Damselflies at Last

 

 

We seem to be entering 'damselfly season' at long last in my corner of Suffolk, UK. We spotted several Large Red Damselflies and one or two others in the grounds at Helmingham Hall. 

 

Helmingham Hall and moat

Not a Large Red ...

... but very well camouflaged.

 

Alder fly

I only see these strange flies with their veined wings on rare occasions, usually in watery locations, and I usually have to remind myself what they are. 

 

Bridge and parkland beyond

 

We don't see Wagtails (of any variety) very often in our neck of the woods so it was a particular joy to see these two.

 

The warm temperatures we experienced from time to time over the weekend made us feel that at last we were entering a late phase of spring. Today the heat has gone out of the sun once again, and although the sky has patches of blue, there is still a chilly northerly wind. It was a joy to see practically our first damsels of the year, but we had to look very hard to count a total of six butterflies at Helmingham, all skittish Orange Tips.

Butterflies and More at Hollesley Marshes

We decided to explore a section of the sea-wall at Hollesley Marshes, a small section of the Suffolk coast that was new to us. It was a very blustery afternoon, but dry and not very cold. To our surprise we found a good range of lepidoptera, a dragonfly and quite a few blue damselflies (which I have yet to check). 

Butterflies seen:

1. Speckled Wood (above)
2. Painted Lady 
3. Red Admiral
   
4. Large Skipper (our first of the season)
5. Green Hairstreak
6. Small Tortoiseshell
7. Green-veined White
8. Speckled Wood
   

Moth:

1. (A rather tatty) Yellow Shell
   

Dragonfly: 

1. Hairy Dragonfly
   

The area contains an inland RSPB reserve and also the coastal and estuarine reserve of Simpson's Saltings, run by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. The next two photos show a couple of meres in the RSPB part of the site.

The photo below shows a larger wetland area on the landward side of the sea-wall. We saw a range of waterbirds here; Shoveler, Shelduck, Avocet, Mute Swan, Redshank, Lapwing and more.

I was very taken with this secluded bay in the Simpson's Saltings area. The wide estuary beyond is part of the river; the shore is reserved for wildlife so we admired it from the bank.

Shoveler on one of the landward meres

 

The next photo shows David on the sea-wall. The strong wind was responsible for all those white horses beyond.

Green Hairstreak

Red Admiral (and below)

The red arrow shows the saltings on the Alde-Ore estuary site

A very tattered Yellow Shell moth

Large Skipper butterfly

Hairy Dragonfly

You can see the hairy thorax below the eyes

wildflowers; the poppies were stunning

Small Toroiseshell

A drift of Thrift

A wasp, as yet unidentified, probably collecting slivers of wood

 

Green-veined White

Damselfly season kicking off apace!

Damsels, Dragons and Painted Ladies at Helmingham Hall

 

We visited the gardens at Helmingham Hall last weekend in the hope that we might be some early 'dragons' or 'damsels' around the moat. As you can see, the walled garden was looking very beautiful. 

We were thrilled to see our first Painted Ladies of the season, and since then we have had one in the garden at home. 

And yes! There were damselflies, many of them Large Reds like the one in the photo. 

We saw a couple of these Broad-bodied Chasers. The males are blue, but females and immature ones are a shimmering gold. 

Back on Dunwich Heath at last

 

 

We took a picnic to NT Dunwich Heath last weekend, hoping that perhaps there would be a few breaks in the cloud. 

 

You can see our picnic spot in the photo above. The white building is made up of old coastguard cottages. I took this picture with my back to the sea.

 

 

I love the archway above and have never noticed it before. The weather was overcast initially, but by about 2pm, the sun had broken through and we were able to watch a few damsels and dragons in the sheltered corners. 

  

 

As we peered into the water beneath the decking, our eyes alighted on two Great Diving Beetles. I was reminded of the giant water-beetle in The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher by Beatrix Potter. 

 

David had his measuring card on him, so we were able to see if the beetles were three centimetres in length, the size of a Great Diving Beetle. We reckoned they were pretty well spot on, despite the fact that the remaining beetle's head had dipped down by this time. 

 

There were good numbers of Ruddy Darters; most, but not all (see below), were on the wing. The one in the photograph had rather ragged wings.

The dragons in the next photo were certainly making their presence felt!

 

We saw two Migrant Hawkers during the course of the afternoon (see above, first photo in this post), both hanging from their respective branches of twigs. They both had a blue aura about them, possibly a trick of the low light, but I think they are Migrant Hawkers as both displayed the characteristic yellow golf-tee mark.

 

 

I have seen very few damsels this year, so was delighted to find the Emerald Damselfly (update, 29 Sept. 2021: please see comments where Conehead54 has informed me that this is actually a Willow Emerald) in the photo below).

 

The damselfly in the next two photos was a very obliging subject.

We found the sandy bank home of some Red-banded Sand Wasps. You can just about make out the pockmarks in the exposed part of the ridge. The photos below show one of the wasps entering the nest.

I had not expected the heather to be turning brown so soon, but there were still some small patches where most the flowers were still in bloom. I have always enjoyed seeing heathland, whether in Suffolk or Cornwall, alight with the pink of the heather and the golden glow of gorse.

We were soon back at our starting point by the coastguard cottages, staring out at the ocean. As you can see, there was no need for any social distancing down below on the shore!
 

Since last Saturday when these photographs were taken, the weather has turned much more autumnal, which is perhaps not surprising since we are now several days past the Autumn Equinox. I can hear lashing rain outside my window as I type, and I suspect it may be many months before we see scenes like the one below again. 

 

Dunwich Heath is a favourite haunt. It features in my poem, 'Dunwich in Winter', which can be found on p.14 of my recent poetry collection, Driftwood by Starlight (The Seventh Quarry Press, June 2021) - see here. 

This poem has also been reproduced on the Suffolk Poetry Society 70th Anniversary calendar for 2022.