Scarlet Darters at Silverlake.

 Not long after returning from Bulgaria, Lisa and I decided to head down to Dorset to see the colony of Scarlet Darters that have set up home there. Of course, I had seen plenty of these gorgeous dragonflies in Bulgaria, where they are known as Broad Scarlet.

The Scarlet Darter has in recent years appeared in Britain, but they are still regarded as an extremely rare migrant species, and this colony at Silverlake is the only known breeding colony as far as I'm aware. I had seen reports over the past couple of years concerning them being seen here, but to be honest I wasn't too worried about going to see them as I had seen them many times abroad. However, Lisa is now on a mission to see all the dragonflies that are found in the UK, although I don't expect the Scarlet Darter is even on the proper UK list yet.

We did however, have another reason for heading down that way, as I have only seen the rare Southern Damselfly once before and that was many years ago. 

Plans were made, and we decided to make a couple of days of it, we booked a one night stay at Poole, which could be cancelled if the weather wasn't suitable. As it was, we nearly cancelled due to it being too good, in other words it was in the middle of one of the many heatwaves. However, we decided to go anyway and if we couldn't find shade we could just have a quick visit.

I knew that one of my dragonfly contacts had been before, so I asked her where the best spots were likely to be so we didn't have to wander about too much in the heat. It was quite bizarre that she came back to me to say she was also going the next day and would see us there.

On arrival at Silverlake we saw Polly in the distance walking towards where we were having our breakfast picnic. She went onto the main lake, with us following shortly after. As we walked around the lake, we very quickly saw our first Scarlet Darter. It was very apparent that were loads of dragonflies and damselflies around the lake, and it was clear many were still emerging. Excuvia was everywhere on the reeds around the water showing how odonata rich the lake was. The Scarlet Darters were landing on the ground or in bushes close to the bank, not particularly photogenic spots, but later on, as it got really hot, the darters started to land in much better positions.

It was far from just the Scarlet Darters that were present, as there were large numbers of so many other species. As the heat of the day increased we did manage to stand under a large tree by the lake, so we could look out without getting too hot. It was fantastic being able to photograph and observe all the species here. I was particularly pleased with some shots of Black-tailed Skimmer, a species that mostly settles on the ground.

Male Black-tailed Skimmer.

As we were chatting to Polly, she suddenly spotted a young Grass Snake that had popped its head up through the weed. We then watched as it swam along, with it gradually getting a little closer to the lakeside bank. We walked very carefully along with it hoping that it would come closer, which it did, as when it came on land it almost went over my feet. A lovely encounter.

Young Grass Snake.

Heading to the bank.

As well as the Black-tailed Skimmer, there were also a few Keeled Skimmer. Where I see them at Ashdown Forest, they seldom rest on foliage where you can get a decent image, so I was pleased that this male kept landing near where we were.

Male Keeled Skimmer.

There were lots of damselflies around the lake, including one my favourites, the Small Red-eyed Damselfly. It's been a while since I last photographed one, so it was great to get mating pairs and singles showing well. On this mating pair image the excuvia from recently emerged damselflies can be seen to the left of the damselflies.

Pair of Small Red-eyed Damselflies.

Male Small Red-eyed Damselfly.

Meanwhile there was a lot of egg laying going on by lots of female Dragonflies and Damselflies.

Female Emperor Dragonfly egg laying.

We had spent a lot of time trying to get close to the Scarlet Darters. They were extremely active, and a pair that seemed to keep joining up to mate, were only in the mating wheel for a few seconds each time. However, as the day got much hotter, eventually the dragonflies slowed down a little giving us a bit more of a chance. We couldn't believe it when the pair suddenly settled right in front of us and stayed in the mating wheel long enough for us both to get some good shots. The male Scarlet Darter is an incredible colour, and to see it on British soil in good numbers was an amazing experience. During the day we saw over 20 of them.  As the day continued to get hotter still the insect became easier to photograph. It was also interesting seeing them point their abdomen more and more upward to decrease their exposure to the sun. The biggest problem was the harsh contrasty light from the sunlight, but hopefully some of the photos are not too bad.

Mating Scarlet Darter.

Male Scarlet Darter.

Whilst we were chatting to Polly, we spotted a very large Horsefly around our part of the lake. We kept an eye on it just in case it fancied a bit of human flesh for its lunch. A little while later I spotted it on a reed, where it was next to something white and a bit odd looking. We looked closer and realised that it was egg laying. It was an amazing thing to watch as the layers of eggs kept getting larger. I'm not sure what the grey fluffy object is in front of the fly, but we kept watching it for a few minutes. I found out later it was called a Large Marsh Horsefly, a very apt name for a very large Horsefly!

Large Marsh Horsefly

A couple of hours later, I checked out the progress and saw that the eggs had changed colour, but also saw that a parasitic fly or wasp had already found the eggs and was busy laying its own eggs into the horsefly egg mass.

Large Marsh Horsefly egg mass being parasitised.

With it now being so hot we decided we had better move on, but not before we had seen a Red-veined Darter and Lesser Emperor, both quite rare migrant species. With Lulworth Cove being around 40 minutes away, we decided to head there to see the Lulworth Skipper. We saw a number very quickly, although they were all looking a little bit past their best. It was good to see them though as it's a butterfly that I have only seen a couple of times before, and Lisa only once before.

Female Lulworth Skipper.

Following this we headed for the cove itself so we could chill off with a swim in the sea. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Whilst we were at Silverlake, we hardly saw anyone else, apart from Polly and a friend of hers that joined us. A local couple of guys did stop and chat with us and they told Lisa about a site for the Southern Damselfly in Dorset. We had planned to try and see these in the New Forest on the way back home. However, after a good nights sleep we decided that as we were going to be driving close to the Dorset site we may as well try that too. As it happened although we saw the damselflies at both sites the photos from the Dorset site were much better, with better lighting and more confiding damselflies.

Male Southern Damselfly.

I even had a mating pair fly past and land really close. 

Mating Southern Damselflies.

Male Southern Damselfly.

The area where the damselflies were was very small, but we did stay longer than expected, but eventually we moved on and headed to the site that I knew in the New Forest. The car parks near the site were closed to protect ground nesting birds, so we had to use a car park a 30 minute walk away. As my back was still playing up, Lisa volunteered to drop me and the camera gear off and head off to park the car. I headed down into the shade to wait for her, although I was watching and photographing the damselflies by the time she had returned. I found a female Southern Damselfly that was a different colour to the female in the mating pair the previous day.

Female Southern Damselfly.

I didn't improve on the male photos though. However, there were some nice Small Red Damselflies which gave me something else to photograph. Including a mating pair.

Male Small Red Damselfly.

Mating pair of Small Red Damselfly.

A Keeled Skimmer also posed well for me again.

Keeled Skimmer.

It really was a fabulous couple of days away, despite the extreme heat. At the New Forest site a few Silver-studded Blues were also seen and as I waited for Lisa to go and collect the car I saw a Purple Hairstreak fly above a large Oak tree. Lisa had also added two more species to her list.

When Lisa had returned with the car, she told me she had spotted an amazing number of cigarette butts on the side of the road that had obviously been thrown from cars by their drivers. With this hot dry summer it doesn't take much imagination to see how dangerous that could become. As I write this I know there has neen a really bad forest fire in the New Forest. Hopefully not following a cigarette butt thrown from a car!!