Well, Spring has sprung to varying degrees, depending upon whereabouts in the UK you are.
From a damselfly point of view, specifically Large Red Damselflies, and in the last week, this means the following:
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| Base map courtesy of Google Maps. Crayon by Yours Truly. |
If you live south of the red line, then your county has probably had its first Odonata record of 2014.
If you live north of the green line, pull up a chair, open another beer and carry on reading a book. A big, thick book, because you ain't going looking for dragons on the wing any time soon. Mind on, if you drink enough beer, there may be flying elephants.
It was hoped that the recent southerly winds that brought all that Saharan dust, might just bring the odd Vagrant Emperor as well. Hey ho.
In Orkney-centric news, Our Lass and I joined the Orkney Field Club (OFC), whose Summer programme includes several trips to Hoy to monitor Odonata. Whoop!
And monitoring it certainly needs, as last year (and in contradiction to the now-out-of-date data currently on this blog) Orkney gained its eighth breeding species, when Emerald Damselflies were confirmed on Hoy. Double Whoop!
Chatting with some of the Odo guys, it transpires that there's a few pools in East Mainland that will be worth my while checking out come the flight season. Black Darter should be a given. [Insert appropriate number of Whoops here]!
The new, updated Atlas of Dragonflies in Britain and Ireland should be out in the next few months. And possibly before I see a real dragonfly.
