With a good selection of the spring butterflies under my belt it was time for me to head to a couple of New Forest sites to get my Hampshire Odonata list underway in my quest to see all the regular butterfly and Odonata species in the county.
I started at Hatchet Small Pond to the south of the main Hatchet Pond where the only new species for the year was Black-tailed Skimmer, but I did also see Azure Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly and Blue-tailed Damselfly.
Black-tailed Skimmer
Black-tailed Skimmer
Large Red Damselfly
Blue-tailed Damselfly - Note the red mite on top of the abdomen and the line of dark coloured mites on the underside of the abdomen.
Common Blue Damselfly
I then headed to Crockford Bridge, a classic New Forest Odonata site, but by now it was a little cloudy and the wind had really gathered strength and so it was not easy finding species. However, after a little while I saw Southern Damselfly, Beautiful Demoiselle, Broad-bodied Chaser, Keeled Skimmer and a glimpse of a probable Gold-ringed Dragonfly but it was swept away by the wind before I could be sure. The walk back to the car produced my first Silver-studded Blue of the year and an Emperor Dragonfly.
Male Keeled Skimmer
Immature male Keeled Skimmer
Egg laying female Broad-bodied Chaser
Beautiful Demoiselle
Beautiful Demoiselle
Beautiful Demoiselle
The highly localised Southern Damselfly
Southern Damselfly
A stunning male Silver-studded Blue