Reflective

The weather went over a cliff overnight, taking my energy and my mood with it. Abandoning a vague plan I'd had to go after small early butterflies up on Prestbury Hill - even if it wasn't too cold and windy for them, I reasoned, it certainly was for me - I decided on a quick check of my nearest Odonata sites, to see how numbers were progressing.

As well as a few Large Red Damselflies, Cleeve Prior Community Orchard now has at least one immature Broad-bodied Chaser flitting about - though not yet perching, as they will when mature, so it was difficult to get good views, and impossible in the poor light to capture any photos. I still can't find any Hairy Dragonflies, or their exuviae, at either of the two big ponds, but as I recorded evidence of breeding at this site last year, I'm still hopeful that some may emerge. Larval development of the Hairy Dragonfly generally takes at least two years, but Brooks and Cham state that it can sometimes be quicker.

There's been quite a change down at Cleeve Prior Mill, where I found between twenty and thirty Banded Demoiselles chasing each other around the bankside vegetation. Now that there are so many of them, most don't seem even slightly concerned about being stalked by me, which obviously made my job a great deal easier than it was at the beginning of the week. I expect the damselfly emergence at Cleeve Mill to get going again as soon as the temperature goes back up - which it's due to do towards the end of next week - but as of today there were still only Banded Demoiselles present, and this female was the freshest specimen I found.

By the time I'd finished recording at these two sites I was so tired I went home for a nap, which could easily have gone on till tomorrow morning if the need to feed hadn't roused me. By the time I'd made lasagne for dinner though, I was almost too tired to eat it, and I sense that I may not be especially productive for the next few days.