Recording in Cheshire 2014

Cheshire Odonata 2014

Unlike the previous year  when there were no April records there were three separate sightings of  Large Red Damselflies Pyrrhosoma nymphula  on the 15th and by the end of the month five species had been seen. This included a teneral Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum that Rob McHale found at Anderton Nature Park on the 27th. After no records of Beautiful Demoiselle Calopteryx virgo in 2013 it was good to receive records from Martin Pennell of good numbers on the Wybunbury Brook and at Batherton Hall on the Weaver.

The Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense continues to be found in good numbers and also to extend its range with the county. Notable records were an ovipositing female in May on Chester Meadows and another female on Frodsham Marsh in June. Meanwhile in the White-faced Darter Leucorrhinia dubia reintroduction project several insects were observed emerging and hopes remain high that this species will soon be a permanent resident once again.

A complete surprise was a record of Variable Damselflies Coenagrion pulchellum emerging at a garden pond in Middlewich. Initial scepticism was confounded by photographs of the insects that clearly were this species. Thanks to Jo Hards for submitting this record via the BDS website.

Presence of White-legged Damselfly Platycnemis pennipes on the Llangollen Canal was again confirmed when Martin Pennell found 8 adults including a tandem pair at Swanley in early August. It would be well worth a careful search along this canal at the end of June in 2015.

The last sightings of the year came with Common Darter in early November and Southern Hawker Aeshna cyanea at the end of October. When I first started recording in the early 1980s a record of this latter species on 1st October was a notable occurrence and yet we now see it right to the end of the month and some years even in November. Another species that appears to be extending its flight period is the Broad-bodied Chaser Libellula depressa which was observed twice in the first week of August.