go east old man

Last day of sun for a while I suspect, so I got out for a day after dragonflies. Forgetting my Atlas work for a change I headed east out of BK hoping to find Epitheca bimaculata at some likely looking spots. En route I stopped at a very dry Klarningen, return migration evident here! Spotted redshank (1 and BK year-tick), ruff (1), green sandpiper (3) and wood sandpiper (2).

First odo stop was Sjöjalt, climbed out of the car and there on the square fishpond near the big lake was an obvious Epitheca flying backwards and forwards just out of reach form the bank! I watched it for some time before it blundered into the verandah of the cafe and I caught it by hand! Another two males were also present over the lake.

If you are into odos, Epitheca bimaculata is rather special, it is rather local and has a short spring flight period giving it a certain cache. It is also very under-recorded, I found three new sites for this species during the day.

ker-ching!

Also flying at Sjöjalt were a number of Gomphus vulgatissimus, my first for the year.

Other species flying at Sjöjalt included Calopteryx virgo (1), Erythromma najas, Gomphus vulgatissimus (3) and Libellula depressa.

Next stop was some nearby lakes at Hällalteknallen, similar species here (including another Epitheca bimaculata!) with some added Pyrrhosoma nymphula for good measure.

Epitheca seem to like the sunny sides of lakes that are surrounded by trees. They often fly high or well offshore.

Happy with my haul and with time surging on I headed next for Lärkeröd hoping to twitch off Leucorrhinia albifrons for the year. I managed to get lost though walking in and bumped into a different set of pools, a little further west. I had no knowledge of this good-looking site and tramped about picking up Leucorrhinia rubicunda and Anax imperator for the day. I then checked a likely looking lake off to one side, surrounded by trees it delivered a single Epitheca in just five minutes watching. Site number three. Walking back out I drove round and walked into the gravel pit complex the long way, picking up a surprise male Orthetrum coerulescens on the way. This little former gravel extraction site is amazing for dragonflies and produced a reasonable number of Leucorrhina albifrons, a few Leucorrhinia dubia and my first Somatochlora metallica and Orthetrum cancellatum for the year, as well as another Anax imperator.The final species total for the day: 21 odos!

Leucorrhina albifrons

One the way back home I dropped in and checked a few site in BK outside my Atlas squares (nothing exciting) and dropped in for a quick look at Ranarpsstrand. Rather quiet here but I did find another spotted redshank and my first (!) Sandwich terns (2) of the year. A great day.

Another new dragonfly for BK!

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.

rODOtrip

I rarely leave BK these days, it has almost developed into agrophobia, but this year I am determined to catch up with those dragonfly species that I have yet to see in Sweden that are reasonably close at hand. And that means getting in the car and going to see them!

Mrs B kicked me out the door bright and early this morning and told me not to come back until I had seen a new dragonfly. I drove SW towards Dagstorpsjön, stopping en route at the beautiful stretch of the Ronneå at Herrevads Kloster. It was still early but the Odos were awake, the meadows by the river were teeming with Calopteryx splendens, Coenagrion pulchellum and Platycnemis pennipes. A careful search of the river eventually produced two patrolling male Gomphus vulgatissimus. Three year-ticks in that little haul - a great start.

Platycnemis pennipes were flying in good numbers on the Ronneå today, it appears to be absent from the lower reaches of the Stensån in BK. These were my first in Skåne!

I love gomphids, this is one of two male Gomphus vulgatissimus watched patrolling the Ronneå this morning.

Calopteryx species are so exotic, this splendens was one of over 200 along a short stretch of the Ronneå this morning.

Driving on I reached Dagstorpsjön by mid-morning and started searching along the mostly treed shoreline. Arriving at small bay I was overjoyed to find a male Epitheca bimaculata patrolling along the shoreline. By jumping from tussock to tussock out into the lake margin I was able to get quite close but no chance of a photo sadly. I just had to enjoy it through the bins. I got most of the features, you could even tell the gender but I could not get the 'twinspots' in the hind wing. A big dragonfly and a welcome lifer.

Drove back north, this time heading for Lärkeröd gravel pits. Patric Carlsson put this site on the map a couple of years ago by finding a small colony of Leucorrhinia albifrons and I was finally going to see them. On arrival I bumped into Thomas Wallin and we were straight onto a Leucorrhina albifrons. Well the colony is not small anymore! We must have seen over a 100, mostly teneral individuals. A big emergence was underway. Patric turned up later on and showed us round the site. On the shores of Rossjön we found two gordian worms. I recorded 14 Odo species during two hours here and missed a few species that were flying. It is a great little site and always produces a few good birds too. A single woodlark greeted me on the access track, a pair of hobbies were obviously in residence and a nutcracker did a fly by. Loaded up with gen on the dragonfly sites of the area I headed to a nearby pond to look for Leucorrhinia pectoralis. There was one good male present which escaped a photo and also the animal pictured below, which I think is one too but it is presumably sub-adult. dubia and rubicunda were also flying here!

A male Leucorrhinia albifrons, only my second record of this species, so pretty exciting stuff.

The Lärkeröd colony of Leucorrhinia albifrons is evidently well-established, now we just need some westerly dispersal into BK.

Part of Patric's guided tour at Lärkeröd included a look at nearby Rossjön, here I spotted a gordian worm. We were stumped by it at the time but the internet soon solved the riddle of it's identity and bizarre lifestyle. Gordian worms (or hair worms) are nematamorphs, a phylum of freshwater invertebrates. They live most of their lives as 20-30cm long, ribbon-thin animals, in freshwater, where they mate and produce eggs. Once eggs develop into larvae, larval gordian worms must infect an aquatic insect larvae, which metamorphosizes and carries the gordiid onto shore. Once onshore, the gordiid encysted inside the aquatic insect must be eaten by a cricket or grasshopper, in which the gordian worm feeds and matures. Gordian worms only feed while inside their cricket or grasshopper host. For the gordian to complete its lifecycle, the infected cricket must then die and fall into water. Blimey!

Female Brachytron pratense egg-laying at Lärkeröd today.

I saw one good 'yellow-spotted' male pectoralis at the pond near Rossjön today and this beast. I think the robustness, black pterostigma and the shape and colour of the S7 spot make the id sound.

My last gasp was to blast back towards BK, stopping at Benmöllan for dipper and grey wagtail and at Perstorps enefälad for false heath fritillary. Last stop of the day was at Klarningen where half an hour produced nothing unsual. A great day out.

Back on patch, Perstorps enefälad produced at least two false heath fritillaries.