New BK odonate! Number 42!

Aeshna grandis female ovipositing at Bränneslätt today

Mrs B dragged me out the door and into the sun this morning and we went up to check out Bränneslätt. This little mire is the best dragonfly location in BK and did not disappoint today. Despite going feet-first into a boggy hole and getting two welly-fulls of water things went well. Aeshna subarctica was on the wing, as well as Lestes sponsa, Somatochlora metallica and Aeshna juncea. I was just about to leave when to my astonishment I noticed a single male Erythromma viridulum perched on a floating weed mat. A BK first and in a slightly unusual location. Now I have to search more likely ponds in BK for this species...

Erythromma viridulum, rapidly colonising NW Skåne as the planet warms up and a predictable addition to the odofauna of BK.

A female Somatochlora metallica posed nicely for me at Bränneslätt

Number 2 found me this nice male Stictoleptura rubra at Bränneslätt, one of the commoner longhorns in BK.

Afterwards we had a picnic at Klarningen but nasty shower soon sent us homewards. Before we went though we managed a brief encounter with the osprey and noted a few waders; greenshank (1), spotted redshank (1) and ruff (1).

Hawker hunter

 A quick trip to Denmark with the team secured a new dragonfly for me this week - the splendid Aeshna serrata. Males were patrolling frenetically over the Stratiotes-choked waterbody at Ølsted and the vegetation rustled with the wings of tens of ovipositing females. They may be local but they are numerous at the right location!

Next stop on our hawker odyssey was Han Vejle, a reedbed boardwalk on the edge a glorious reed-fringed lake on the Jammerbugten. A hot late afternoon here produced plenty of encounters with patrolling male Aeshna serrata but no sign of any females. I have only seen one serrata in Sweden so this was a great day as well.

A return trip at midday the following day produced a lot of Aeshna grandis but only a few serrata, perhaps they timeshare? We did see a female serrata briefly but no photos sadly.

Dragonfly tick!

Nipped out this morning briefly to check Eskilstorpstrand (hoping for little gull or black tern, both reported nearby and just off-patch recently) but nothing seen of note. Also spent an hour up the tower at Klarningen too before breakfast. The teal flock has reached 51 and a few fieldfare, yellow wagtail and tree pipit were on the move. Waders were not very obvious but I scraped up ringed plover (2), golden plover (6), lapwing (75), snipe (1) and curlew (2). On the way home drove over the top but the high ground was too foggy to bird.

In the afternoon we all checked out the loop trail near Killeröd, which I thought we had walked before but actually was new! Nice walk, mixtures of different conifer species and plenty of softwood too. Some nice wet hollows choked with Sphagnum as well. Despite the overcast conditions we did well for dragonflies; recording Aeshna grandis, Aeshna juncea, Sympetrum danae, Sympetrum vulgatum, Sympetrum sanguineum and best of all a single female Lestes virens (a lifer). Birds did not feature much although we did get a pair of bullfinch and a female red-backed shrike.

Aeshna grandis, lots of these guys on the wing at the moment. One of my favourite dragonflies.

Lestes virens a female, my first in Sweden or anywhere for that matter. I originally mistook this for dryas but the pterostigma was brown with pales sides and the ovipositor sheath (although not pale but bicoloured, contra Dijkstra and Lewington) was gently pointed.

A rather cross grass snake I showed the kids, they were quite keen until it stank the place out by voiding a cloacal secretion that smelled strongly of rotten garlic. Who needs poison?

Female Aeshna juncea in the hand - such good views allow the diagnostic yellow costa and yellow spots behind the eyes to be appreciated.

On the way home we quickly checked Hålehallstugan hoping for more dragonflies but the weather had deteriorated too much. Big flock of tufted duck here though (19) and a single little grebe.