Yesterday I wrote that finding a new species of dragonfly might be what I needed to reignite my interest in them - what will finding two do?
This morning I revisited the pond hoping there might be someone working the land who could let me through the fence. No luck on that score but I set about viewing from outside the fence again and quickly noticed there were a few more large dragonflies than yesterday. The Emperor was still present and I was able to get better pictures today although he was still constantly in flight. A couple of Common Hawkers (starrlibelle) were my first of the year and were repeatedly chased off by the Emperor. I also saw something else come into my view finder whilst following the Emperor and took just a single picture of it but it turned out to be good enough to identify it (a miracle in itself) as a Eurasian Baskettail Epitheca bimaculata (toflekklibelle) and a new species for me. This species whilst not a newcomer is probably even rarer than the Emperor and is categorised as Near Threatened on the Norwegian Red List with an estimated population of under 1000 reproducing individuals. So this was quite the find and very unexpected. It looks as though this pond might be quite the odonata hotspot but it really does not look that special and was only created three years ago. The area generally lacks ponds which also makes its quick colonization by a number of species interesting but I think that generally there are so few people interested in odonata in Norway that there must be loads to find out there if you visit new sites. There are a few listers but they generally vist the same couple of sites for the rare species so if you are in it then you may well win it - but to be clear I am definitely not in it when it comes to dragonflies - just lucky.
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| A much more satisfying picture of the Emperor (storkeiserlibelle) |
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| And the Eurasian Baskettail (toflekklibelle). The 2 dark flecks at the base of the hind wing are not visible in this photo but everything else matches |
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| The pond behind an imposing fence and locked gate |
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| It was possible to get closer by going down the side of the fence which is where today’s photos are taken from |
After I wrote this but before publishing I visited again and this time met the guys behind the place and got a guided tour😊 They are indeed farming ecological fruit and veg on land they cleared which was previously a spruce plantation. They have loads of wild areas, 5 ponds in total and it is a great place. Their website is https://eijos.no/
Despite being let in behind the wire I did not get much better pictures of the dragons or discover too much more but it was by then very hot. The Emperor was not on the same pond as earlier but what I presume to be the same beast was patrolling another of the ponds 500m away. Disappointingly the Baskettail was not to be seen and was perhaps a prospecting individual?
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| The pond which now held a (the) Emperor |
And the photos of the Emperor from the second pond:
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