Devon: British Dragonfly Society (BDS) Diary Dates 2010

[John_Baker]

Dave Smallshire the well known author and Dragonfly expert has organised another wonderful set of days out – while these are for BDS members, I can sneak some guests in – advanced details and dates below… I am sure the details of the events for around the rest of the country will be published shortly!!
See www.dragonflysoc.org.uk



Saturday May 16th - Stover Country Park and Little Bradley Ponds, Devon
A walk around Stover Lake and its accompanying ponds, looking in particular for Hairy Dragonfly and Downy Emerald. There will be a focus on finding evidence of breeding, so we will be looking for emerging dragonflies and their exuviae. If weather dictates some time indoors, there will be a session on identifying larvae and exuviae as well as an Atlas update. After lunch, we will visit Little Bradley Ponds DWT Reserve, where we have a better chance of finding evidence of Downy Emerald emergence.

Sunday May 23rd - The Axe Valley and Lower Bruckland Ponds, Devon
To look for emerging Scarce Chasers and White-legged Damselflies along the river and perhaps Scarce Chasers, Red-veined Darters and Red-eyed Damselflies at nearby fishing ponds.

Saturday June 19th - Countess Wear and Exminster Marshes, Devon
An introduction to the dragonflies and damselflies of the still and flowing waters in the area, with chances of seeing Red-eyed Damselfly, White-legged Damselfly, Banded Demoiselle, Hairy Dragonfly, Emperor, Black-tailed Skimmer and maybe Scarce Chaser.

Sunday 20th June - Colaton Raleigh Common, Bystock Reserve and Squabmoor Reservoir, Devon

Sunday July 4th - Prewley Moor and Doetor Mire, NW Dartmoor, Devon
To see Southern, Small Red and Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies, Golden-ringed Dragonflies and Keeled Skimmers moorland sites.

Sunday 25th July - Smallhanger, SW Dartmoor, Devon.
A joint Devon Group/Devonshire Association meeting. A wide range of species at this threatened site, including Small Red and Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies, Common Hawker, Keeled Skimmer, Black Darter and maybe Red-veined Darter and Fairy Shrimp.

[Steve52]

John. Is it Saturday 15th May or Sunday 16th May?

[John_Baker]

I don’t know, it was the info I was given “I am only the piano player, I don’t write the music” - I will find out...

[velocette]

Too far away I'm afraid although very tempting as they facinate me. We had a very god hatch from our small (8') fibreglass pond last year which lost me a couple of days that I should have been doing something else during. [image]http://www.flickr.com/photos/34583461@N05/4358279997/in/photostream/[/image] [image]http://www.flickr.com/photos/34583461@N05/4358280079/in/photostream/[/image]

[John_Baker]

That is a really interesting picture - somehow you managed to mangle the link, as there are size constraints on this site, I have taken the liberty of shrinking the picture down to size (max 600 x 600 pixels and <100kb) here it is reproduced below, I really love that Depth of Field...



It is worth keeping an eye on the BDS site as they will be posting the rest of the national events very shortly. While we are lucky in Devon having Dave Smallshire on our patch, we do also have a particularly active local group – you can access the BDS Diary Page here...