Shenstone Birder: Hildditch Days....part one

As some of you may or may not be aware I have been having on going problems with an knee injury which has had a big impact on the amount of on/off patch walks I have been able to undertake over the past few months. That said the 'invert' season is now in full flow and I have spent a far amount of time monitoring/recording them at a site near Hartlebury where not great deal of distance needs to be walked and to be honest I have enjoyed the change of scene.

Hillditch Pool is a narrow almost river like pool that is bordered by Phragmites (Common Reed to you and I) and has areas that are covered with Lily Pads. The site is owned by Worcestershire County Council and is in close proximity to Hartlebury Common. A public footpath runs along the side of the pool making it ideal for viewing dragonflies and damselflies.

Hillditch is a site that I have visited on/off for a few years now and on one visit last year I discovered some freshly emerged Scarce Chasers. Through out the season myself and others including Mike Averill (the county dragonfly recorder) monitored them and observed mating activity. So it remained to be seen if they were to be present/emerge in 2013. I am happy to say that they did and the first newly emerged ones were recorded on 10th June by both Mike A (http://dragonfliesofworcestershire.weebly.com/) and fellow wildlife blogger Mark P (http://doorstepbirding.blogspot.co.uk/)

Anyway, enough of the back story & on with the post....

6th May 2013:
A single teneral Large Red Damselfly was recorded at Hillditch today. Also of interest was a Slow Worm basking on the track near the top pool. A Common Frog was also present at the pool's edge.

Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

19th May 2013:
Things were generally quite at Hillditch on this visit and the only Odonata recorded were small numbers of Large Red Damselflies. Also of interest was a cracking little metallic looking micro moth called Micropterix calthella.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula)

Micropterix calthella

25th May 2013:
On today's visit it was noticeable that there had been quite an increase in the number of Large Red Damselflies at the site. Small numbers of teneral Azure Damselflies were also present. The day's highlight though was seeing a young Pike, of about 6 inches in length, basking between the lily pads. Also of interest today was a single 14-spot Ladybird and a number of Bloody-nosed Beetle Larvae. Butterflies were in good numbers with 1 ♂ Brimstone, 1 Large White, 1 ♂ Orange Tip, 2 Peacocks, 3 Small Tortoiseshell noted

♀ Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)

Pike (Esox lucius)

Bloody-nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa) larva

8th June 2013:
Numbers of damselflies present have now increased significantly at Hillditch with Banded Demoiselle, Beautiful Demoiselle and Red-eyed Damselfly now on the wing. There was no sign of any 'true dragonflies' however.

Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens)