Odonata at Ultima Frontiera (Romania)

Four species of Lestes were on the wing at Ultima Frontiera this week. Lestes barbarus were rather localised but could be found with a little patience.

A full list of species recorded in Romania between 15th and 19th of June appears at the end of the page.

I do not see many Lestes parvidens, so it was nice to bump into this species in the more shaded riparian wetlands bordering the Danube.

 Much more familiar though were the Lestes dryas that popped up in similar habitat.

The big Lestes here though is Lestes macrostigma, always a special odo. I found just two males whilst my colleagues worked a lovely shallow lagoon for waterbirds.

I found just two newly-minted Sympecma fusca on the property.

After the excitement of adding Selysiothemis nigra to the Romanian odofauna on the first day we went on to find another five or so in the drier, sandier areas of the property. A lifer for me.

My other lifer of the trip was Orthetrum albistylum, reasonably common amongst the cancellatums.

Anax parthenope outnumbered imperator by a large margin and together they were the only aeshnids we could find.

-->

Banded demoiselle	Calopteryx splendens	Along the banks of the Danube and it’s larger backwaters. ancilla?
Robust spreadwing	Lestes dryas	Rather localised at UF, found at one pond.
Migrant spreadwing	Lestes barbarus	Small numbers daily at UF.
Dark spreadwing	Lestes macrostigma	Just two males noted at one spot in UF.
Eastern willow spreadwing	Lestes parvidens	Small numbers around the periphery of UF.
Common winter damsel	Sympecma fusca	Two fresh individuals encountered at UF.
Common bluetail	Ischnura elegans	Abundant.
Small bluetail	Ischnura pumilio	One male at the wetland site before we had lunch en route to the delta.
Common bluet	Enallagma cyathigerum	A few at the wetland site before we had lunch en route to the delta.
Variable bluet	Coenagrion pulchellum	Scarce in the delta?
Small red-eye	Erythromma viridulum	Common and widespread.
Blue featherleg	Platycnemis pennipes	Common in the delta.
Emperor	Anax imperator	Present in the delta in good numbers.
Lesser emperor	Anax parthenope	Quite common at the wetland before lunch en route to the delta.
Black-tailed skimmer	Orthetrum cancellatum	Widespread.
White-tailed skimmer	Orthetrum albistylum	One male at the wetland en route to the delta.
Ruddy darter	Sympetrum sanguineum	Small numbers around the periphery at UF.
Red-veined darter	Sympetrum fonscolombii	Single male at the lake en route to the delta.
Common darter	Sympetrum striolatum	A few at UF.
Southern darter	Sympetrum meridionale	The commonest Sympetrum.
Broad scarlet	Crocothemis erythraea	Abundant in the delta and a few elsewhere.
Black pennant	Selysiothemis nigra	Five individuals, all female, recorded in the drier, sandier areas of UF. First record for Romania?

Lestes we forget

Having missed that splendid time in mid-June when just Lestes dryas is flying it was time to re-learn the differences between female sponsa and dryas in the hand. The ovipositor on sponsa (top picture) just reaches the end of S10, on the much more robust dryas below it storms past the end of S10.

Field-tested my new net today and found it to be splendid. Will do a review when I have given it a thorough working over. The sun shone today so we headed out into the field in the afternoon for some dragonfly survey work. Despite the sun things remained on the cool side with the temperatures just breaking 15 degrees!

Hit the pond at Mäsinge first and walked the shallow Equisetum-choked mire, hoping for dryas with the kids chirping behind me - no sign of any Lestes! The nearby pond was better but still low numbers of stuff and nothing unusual, except for the first sponsa of the year. Next we tried the excellent series of small mires at Rammsjöstrand and here the first damselfly we saw was a dryas! We found at least three in the end and plenty of recently emerged sponsa too. A few Aeshna flushed out of the mires too.

Male Lestes dryas, present no difficulties in the hand.

Damsel day

The weather was a bit ropey this morning and we were tied up with Number 1's last day of school and the inevitable sing-song. I got out of the church bit and looked at some sites around Grevie but only damsels were flying and nothing exciting or new for the square. I checked the stream at Greviebackar for Ischnura pumilio but no luck (no Odonata of any kind in fact).

In the afternoon though we all headed out and checked out the sedgy wetland in Rammsjöstrand. I have always admired this bit of habitat and have tipped it for greatness, hence my occasional visits even though it falls outside my survey squares. Today I was very pleased to discover about 20 Lestes dryas scattered over the site. It's typical that I should find dryas on the patch in the same week I drove 100's of kilometres to see some. A great, if somewhat predictable, find and the first for BK.

Business end of a female dryas, the ovipositor extends beyond the end of S10 in this species.

Male Lestes dryas at Rammsjöstrand, the first colony to be found in BK.

We just had time to look at the two small pools west of Rammsjöstrand, just one damsel flying here. Amazingly it was a male Ischnura pumilio, only my second in BK. Great day for damsels.

My first male Ischnura pumilio in Sweden. Hopefully this species will turn up in one or more of my Atlas squares this year.

and that brings up the 50 for England...

Time for a dragonfly 'clean-up' today, with a 360 km route down into the south-east corner of Skåne to cosh off four species. Just outside Munka Ljungby I had a feeding white stork, which remained the bird of the day. The weather report was favourable, although my first site of the morning (the Ronneå at Billinge) was hit by a sharp downpour just as I arrived. Plenty of Calopteryx splendens and Platycnemis dodging the rain but no sign of any flying Libellula fulva, my target species. I worked the nearby trees hoping to find hooked-up adults but with no luck, then I walked the river-bank hoping for an emerging individual and found a fresh female. It climbed onto my finger and slowly spread it's wings before heading off on it's maiden flight.

My first Swedish Libellula fulva, it has been sometime since I last saw this species.

Next site was The water treatment ponds at Vomb. I had to be disciplined here because the area is monster for birds. Leaving the car a goshawk crossed the track, with an entourage of angry crows. Walking south through the ponds I was searching for just one species, Aeshna isoceles (the Norfolk hawker), another omission on my Swedish dragonfly list. Species diversity improved the further south I went and after about a kilometre I came to a U-shaped pool, here I had my first Anax imperator of the year and then shortly after that my first Swedish isoceles patrolling a tiny territory in the corner. These dragonflies really glow, a vision of ginger and green. No sign of any water-soldier (Stratiotes aloides) though, a plant this species is normally associated with. A Gomphus vulgatissimus here looked out of place. Walking back a red kite successfully scopped up my first coot chick of the year.

Thrashing on I headed for a small wetland near Fågeltofta that produces huge numbers of Lestes dryas. The hardest thing about seeing this species was negotiating the barbed wire fence! Once down in the basin, the Juncus was heaving with dryas. Things were going well.

The business end of a male dryas.

Nice to get a Lestes on the year-list - species number 49 on my Swedish list.

Libellula depressa were present at several of the sites looked at today.

Last stop was a blatant twitch but how could I ignore the presence of four Sympetrum fonscolombii at Simrishamn having got so close! This site is coastal and very compact and it did not take me long to find the fonscolombii, a huge rarity in Sweden. It was surprisingly difficult to count them though, but I think there were two patrolling males and then at one point a pair in tandem egg-laying. This female is the only one ever recorded in Sweden and was first seen yesterday.

Peripheral colonies of fonscolombii are prone to instability but this species may establish itself at Simrishamn. Exciting stuff and number 50 on the list too.

The pool at Simrishamn, shame it is 170 km from my house!

On the way home I stopped off again at the Ronneå at Billinge. This time it was warm and dry and the river was packed with Libellula fulva. A 200 metre walk upstream produced at least 30 males, four pairs in the wheel and one egg-laying female. Gomphus vulgatissimus were evident too with at least 15 patrolling males along this stretch. A great end to the day.

Female fulva.

Male fulva.

Another male Gomphus vulgatissimus photo, sorry but I like them.