Slightly worse-for-wear but they all count. This was my first silver-washed fritillary (Argynnis paphia) of the year.
The sun was sort of shining during the middle of the day so out I went, this time to check the area around Hålehallstugan. The westerly wind was appalling and there were few large odonates on the wing. I checked through various damselflies, watched an agitated male red-backed shrike, saw my first silver-washed fritillary of the year, disturbed a grass snake and then my eyes fell on a male Leucorrhinia albifrons! A first for BK sheltering in the lee of a bramble bush. I spent some time trying to get a decent photograph of this obliging individual before checking a nearby swampy bit. On my return five minutes later I expected to be reunited with the little beauty but instead it's place had been taken by a male Leucorrhinia dubia (in rather atypical habitat). Were random Leucorrhinia species blowing past and stopping briefly? Should I have waited for caudalis?
Another BK first - Leucorrhinia albifrons! Despite the poor weather the dragonflies are still providing entertainment. This bundle of fur and pruinescence is incredibly difficult to photograph well it transpires...
Last stop of the day before the weather deteriorated again and I got hungry was a look at the pools at Bösketorp. Created for crayfish and twice emptied by the tunnel construction this site was swarming with damselflies. It last emptied in the autumn, how do the larva survive such a catastrophic event? Teneral Sympetrum danae and vulgatum were available but the best find was a decidedly chilly Anax imperator which tolerated some close-up work with the camera.
It was so cold by the time I left Bösketorp that when I found this emperor on the ground, I could just pick it up and pose it for photos.
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