Pontypridd

Took a walk with my sister and her dogs on some waste ground near the old slag tips for the Ty-Mawr Collery in Hopkinstown and came across this Female Keeled Skimmer, there is no pool near by only a drain/culvert.

I will have to check it out again to see if its just flying through or if there is something keeping it there.

Keynsham on the river Avon, Somerset.

 Banded demoiselle

                           

White legged damselfly

                           
                              Mike Powell, David Gilmore and I were at this site
                              looking for Scarce chaser. None were found but these
                              two species were present in good numbers.

Pembs news (VC45)

Dowrog Common

Small Red Damselfly (2 teneral)
Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (3, inc pair in copula)
Hairy Dragonfly (2)

River Alun, Dowrog Common

Banded Demoiselle (6)

All sightings Paul Grennard

Red-eyed Damselfly at Pluck Lake

Red-eyed Damselfly (c) J. Driscoll

Jeff Driscoll reports Red-eyed Damselfly on the wing today at Pluck Lake, but also, of considerable note, that wellies are needed to get near them!

Roath

Nant Fawr stream at Sainsbury's Roath: Banded Demoiselle [4], Large Red Damsel [1] & Azure Damsel [1].

PENALLTA PARC

Looked at a number of the pools around the parc the first ones were the horse-shoe pools(7), there were alot of Damsels: Large Reds, Azures and Blue-tailed. Each pool had at least One Male Broad-bodied Chaser patroling with Three pools having a Female also, Two of the pools also had Male Four-spotted Chasers.

All the Female Broad-bodied Chasers were ovipositing.

The large pool had the same Damsels plus a Male Emperor and a Male Beautiful Demoiselle.
The two lakes near the cycle track had Damsels plus Male & Female Broad-bodied Chasers 7 in total, 2 f, 5m.
The fishing lakes had only Damsels: Large Reds, Blue-tailed, Azure and Common Blues.

Red-eyed Damselflies & others

Neath Canal - Penrhiwtyn (SS738958)

Red-eyed Damselfly (3m)
Variable Damselfly (20)
Large Red Damselfly (8)
Azure Damselfly (16)
Blue-tailed Damselfly (12)
Hairy Dragonfly (6)
Four-spotted Chaser (5)
Emperor Dragonfly (2)

Neath Canal - Giant's Grave (SS735948)

Red-eyed Damselfly (1m)

Pluck Lake (SS669957)

Red-eyed Damselfly (2m)
Black-tailed Skimmer (4m)
Emperor Dragonfly (1)

All sightings Paul Grennard

Hairy dragonfly at Parc slip today.

LLANERCH VINEYARD WOOD

Checking through my photos from Sunday I found Red-eyed Damselfly.

This photo taken at Llanerch wood so definitely worth a second visit.

Demoiselle sightings.

2 reports of demoiselle sightings, from yesterday (9/6/13).

Beautiful Demoiselle (10) at the Kenfig River (SS795830) (D Lewis)

Banded Demoiselle (1m) along Neath River (SS79409980) (N Edwards)

Red-eyed Damselflies at Neath Canal

 A quick mid-afternoon check of the Neath Canal at Penrhiwtyn was better than I'd hoped. My main concern was that canal maintenance team had been in to clear the water lilies before the early season damselflies had been given chance to breed. To my relief the lily cover was just about right and with it came the diversity among damselflies that was missing from previous visits made earlier this year.
The total numbers did seem a little low but this was not helped by only brief spells of sunshine during my visit. This stretch of the canal was sheltered from the wind today and it remained warm even when the sun wasn't shining, and many of the species were still active under cloudy conditions.

The Red-eyed Damselflies were the most conspicuous damselfly, which may also have led to it being the most abundant of the damselfly species on show? 22 in all between the 2 bridges including 3 tandems in copula. The only noticeable absentee was Large Red Damselfly. However, a sighting of a Beautiful Demoiselle, behind Milland Road Industrial Estate, on the canal was a pleasant surprise. Also an overhead sighting of a Darter sp. (presumed to be Common Darter) that didn't stop.

Highlight - Red-eyed Damselfly (22)
Also, Beautiful Demoiselle (1), Azure Damselfly (7), Variable Damselfly (15), Common Blue Damselfly (13), Blue-tailed Damselfly (12), Hairy Damselfly (24) & Darter sp. (1)

Pysgodlyn Mawr

A few dragonflies on the wing:
Common Blue Damsel [present]
Azure Damsel [very probably this species, but not determined]
Red-eyed Damsel [3+]
Hairy Dragonfly [1]
Downy Emerald [3+]
Broad-bodied Chaser [1]
[MCP & DRWG]

Pysgodlyn Mawr

My first visit here for a long time, I used to fish here a long time ago. Alot on the wing today:
Broad-bodied Chaser
Four-spotted Chaser
Downy Emerald
Emperor
Large Red Damsel
Azure and
Common
There is another area to park with a shorter walk to the best spot for seeing the above, ST 0413 7629 its a pull in for a forestry track then cross the road and a path over a stile takes you straight to the pond.

Llanerch Wood

Not far from Pysgodlyn Mawr is Llanerch Vineyard (ST 0479 7976) where they have a wooded area and two cracking little ponds so I thought I would check them out, plenty of Damsels:
Azure
Large Red
Common Blue and
Blue-tailed Damselfly
Alot of the Blue-tailed Damselflies where either in tandem and ovipositing or forming a copulation wheel.
The only dragons I found were a male and female Broad-bodied Chaser. Well worth another visit.

Rhoose Point 9 June

 A few snaps from this afternoon's short trip round Rhoose Point.  Also a Broad-bodied Chaser on the wing.  I'm not especially confident about the id's for the damsels, and am happy to be corrected if any are wrong!

Blue-tailed?

Blue-tailed f. rufescens?

Common Blue heterochrome form?

Roath Park Outlet Stream

Azure

Large Red

Just below the lake on the outlet stream by the first bridge there are some lily pads and there were a number of Common Damselflies, Azures and Large Reds.

Downy Emerald at Pysgodlyn Mawr, Hensol Forest

 My second ever visit to Hensol Forest, today, was much more rewarding than my first, a year ago. This time I managed to catch up with at least 2 male Downy Emeralds in what turned out to be a brief and fortuitous window of opportunity. The males were showing from the fishing bays along the NE side of the lake, around 14:15, and they would sometimes clash with each other, but more regularly they would clash with male Broad-bodied Chasers. Even though it was a warm day they were only observed during strong sunshine, for which there was only a limited period this afternoon.

 On arrival at the lake, a quick scan of the waters near the vegetated side showed a few good candidates for Downy Emerald, but by the time I'd got a few shots of this distinctive male and the sun went behind the cloud the opportunity to do a proper site count was lost.
If anyone wishes to make the trip to see these very special dragonflies please be aware that they are not on Hensol Lake, a mistake which cost me a lot of time last year! They are in fact on a lake situated in Hensol Forest called Pysgodlyn Mawr. It's not easy to find but there does seem to be a small parking area near to the lake at ST 0416 7583.

My desperation to see the Downy Emeralds meant that I just about ignored everything else around the lake! However, there were a few Red-eyed Damselflies (5+) and a decent sized Grass Snake for good measure.

Neath Canal, last month

Variable Damselfly

I've made a couple of visits to the Neath Canal (Penrhiwtyn), last month once on the 18th and another about a week later. Both visits were a little disappointing for numbers. The canal had already been cleared of surface Water Lillies by the 19/5/13 and damselflies were pretty much non-existent from the towpath. There are a few sheltered spots between the canal and square pond, well away from any water, where I've found damselflies in small numbers in the past. This year thus far, these same sheltered spots seem to be the most reliable place to get good views of damselflies. I saw the above Variable Damselfly on the 19/5/13 with a few Large Reds. My second visit found Common Blue, Azure, Blue-tailed and Large Red Damselflies in small numbers. Hopefully this recent run of good weather and temps, along with another weeks worth of Water Lilly emergence will find a few more damselflies along the canal, and hopefully include some Red-eyed Damselflies amongst them?

Emperors out

An Emperor Dragonfly flew over my head, but didn't stop, today, at Cwmgwrach. Yesterday one was seen in flight near Broad Pool, per I. Tew, C. Hipkin et al

More from Kenfig, yesterday

                                          Azure damselfly

                                            Azure damselfly

                                            Blue tailed damselfly

                                          Blue tailed damselfly

                                           Four spotted chaser

                                            Four spotted chaser.

Kenfig rivermouth area today.

                                               Broad bodied chaser

                                               Four spotted chaser

                                               Four spotted chaser.
                                                 Also Hairy dragonflies and Azure, Large red and
                                                 Blue tailed Damselflies.