Thursday's Guardian Country Diary is about this male common darter dragonfly - surely the last of the year - that we saw a few days ago on the banks of the river Tyne near Wylam.
It settled amongst the fallen autumn leaves and seemed very reluctant to move away from the large patch of flowering ivy that still attracted flies that it was probably feeding on.
Since then we've had some hard frosts. It will be eight months before we see the next generation hatching out.
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Thanks for posting this, Phil. I didn't manage to see a Common Darter this year. In fact, my yearly species count was down to a lowly eight from its usual twenty-odd. Mind you, submitting my records was much quicker than normal!
ReplyDeleteHi Graeme, Lovely insects, aren't they? Already looking forward to the next dragonfly season. I'm really enjoying your blog.
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