It's been a few years now since I last saw the tiny Black Darter in Sussex. All my sightings in the county before have been at Ashdown Forest, but after several summers now of the ponds drying up, it seems the species has vanished from there, which is extremely sad.
However, for the past couple of years there has been sightings on heathland at the far western end of Sussex, and after seeing a report from Polly that she had spotted several Black Darter, at a pond actually called The Black Pond, Lisa and I decided to head over there after we had done a recce for a forthcoming butterfly tour I was leading.
At the pond all the Black Darters we saw were males, with around 6 in total which was very pleasing. One particular male was extremely loyal to a perch that he kept coming back to, despite me being quite close with the camera.
Male Black Darter.
Also present were some Small Red Damselflies, Common Emerald Damselflies, Migrant Hawkers, Southern Hawker and Emperor Dragonflies.
A great site and a very enjoyable hour or so spent there.
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