Common Darter

I found these two obliging Common Darters Sympetrum striolatum basking on canes in the late summer sunshine at Whitecross Woods in Oxfordshire. I drove out to Whitecross in the hope of photographing an elusive Brown Hairstreak, but finding none spent an enjoyable couple of hours chasing Dragonflies instead! Common Hawkers love to sun themselves on twigs or warm surfaces such as paths and can be quite approachable and easy to photograph.

Male Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum - Whitecross Woods, Oxon, 11/08/2012

Female Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum - Whitecross Woods, Oxon, 11/08/2012

Late Butterflies and Dragonflies

The butterfly and dragonfly season just seems to go and on. On Sunday morning with the weather unseasonably warm, and we decided to take a long walk in the Chilterns, the plan being to end up at one of our favourite pubs. It felt more like a spring day and I was not surprised to see a few Red Admirals, a couple of Peacocks and a Brimstone out enjoying the mellow sun. Red Admirals are immigrants from Southern Europe and North Africa but there is now evidence that they are successfully overwintering in Britain. I recently saw a photograph of a Red Admiral resting on a snowdrop, taken in January! I was much more surprised to see a male Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum out and about. The flight period for this familiar little dragonfly is from late June to late October, making this a very late individual. Only a few days ago I came across a Migrant Hawker patrolling a pond in a garden I was working in - another late dragonfly. 

A Red Admiral was out in the late afternoon sun today, probably my latest ever butterfly record and possibly not my last sighting of the year as there are few more mild days to come. It certainly makes the Winter seem shorter!

Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum - male

Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum - female