Hampshire Dragonflies and Damselflies - Ober Water 29th June

In really hot and humid conditions during the UK's second heatwave of the year I wandered Ober Water looking for White-legged Damselfly and Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly. The stream was absolutely heaving with Odonata and despite the heat it was an amazing location with Beautiful Demoiselle, White-legged Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, Small Red Damselfly, Southern Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Emperor Dragonfly, Gold-ringed Dragonfly, Downy Emerald and Keeled Skimmer being recorded - 12 species in total. Of my targets, White-legged Damselfly was present in abundance with many mating pairs while Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly was only seen in one small area (centred around 50.834124, -1.638628) with three males present. I was pleased to get back to the air conditioned car!

Beautiful Demoselle or the rare Hampshire Purslane

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

Downy Emerald - A rare view of a perched individual

White-legged Damselfly

White-legged Damselfly

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly

Hatchet Small Pond and Hawkhill Inclosure - 29th June

A quick stop for a couple of species for my Hampshire butterfly, dragonfly and damselfly list. First was Hatchet Small Pond where Small Red-eyed Damselfly was new for the year and then to the heathland south of Hawkhill Inclosure, a regular spot for Grayling which also produced the rare, Marbled Clover.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly - Note that water mites present on the underside of the abdomen, I have noticed this on several damselflies at this pond during the summer.

Grayling

Marbled Clover

Keeled Skimmer

Hampshire Butterflies - Whiteley Pastures - 22nd June

Headed to Whiteley Pastures mainly for Purple Emperor, I had to cross the Hamble into east Hampshire, not something I do very often but there seem to be very few reliable sites in west Hampshire. Walked a big loop of the woodland getting views of several Purple Emperor high in the trees. It was not until having almost completed the loop that good views of Purple Emperor were obtained, however, these were flying around the tops of willows and lower levels of oak but not coming to ground - glimpses of purple were none-the-less obtained. The best location was at 50.8877, -1.2352429.

Comma

White Admiral

Red Admiral

Silver-washed Fritillary

Gold-ringed Dragonfly

The grossly spectacular Tachinid fly Nowickia ferox

Hampshire Dragonflies - Warren Heath 16th June

In my quest to see all the regularly breeding Hampshire dragonflies in 2025, one of the most tricky species was going to be Brilliant Emerald with only one site where the species was reported in Hampshire in 2024 on iRecord.  So on 19th June I parked in the church carpark at 51.342116, -0.881581 and slogged south to the pond at 51.322250, -0.885302. Fortunately, within 30 minutes or so of arriving a had located a couple of Brilliant Emerald in the east of the pond with Downy Emerald and then eventually pinned down a more obliging male patrolling a territory in the west of the pond. This was a fantastic odonata site with other highlights being Brown Hawker, Large Red-eyed Damselfly, Gold-ringed Dragonfly and many Four-spotted Chaser. The walk back was far harder than the walk down, with an uphill slope and 26c heat and blazing sun, it was good to get back to the car and turn up the air conditioning!

Brilliant Emerald

Downy Emerald

Emperor Dragonfly

Grass Snake

Grass Snake

Bernwood Meadows NR - 17th June

As well as seeing all the regularly breeding butterflies in Hampshire this year there were a couple of target species in local counties that I had never seen in the UK before, these were Black Hairstreak and Lulworth Skipper. On 17th June I headed to the wonderful flower rich Bernwood Meadow for the former species. I was surprised to see Purple Hairstreak and then White-letter Hairstreak and as these are generally later flying species I was worried that I was too late for Black Hairstreak, but, in the final 45 minutes of my visit I found a hedgerow where at least three were present, albeit that two were very worn and the third, a fresh looking male, stayed high in the Blackthorn. My eBird checklist for the visit is here: 

https://ebird.org/checklist/S251587296 

Purple Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak

White-letter Hairstreak

Black Hairstreak

Black Hairstreak

Black Hairstreak

Hampshire Dragonflies and Butterflies - Hatchet Small Pond 14th June and Parkhill Inclosure 15th June

 In my continued efforts to try to see all the regularly breeding Dragon/Damselflies and Butterflies in Hampshire this year I visited Hatchet Small Pond on 14th June hoping for Large Red-eyed Damselfly which soon showed itself in the windy and cool conditions but little else of note was seen.

Large Red-eyed Damselfly

Common Blue Damselfly

On 15th June I then visited Parkhill Inclosure near to Brockenhurst where the main targets were Silver-washed Fritillary and White Admiral of which I saw both with around 15 of the former and two of the latter. Gold-ringed Dragonfly was also new for my 2025 dragonfly list.

Silver-washed Fritillary

Silver-washed Fritillary

Silver-washed Fritillary

White Admiral

Large Skipper

Large Skipper

Gold-ringed Dragonfly

Broad-bodied Chaser

The hoverfly Sericomyia silentis

The hoverfly Didea fasciata

Hampshire Dragonflies - Pig Bush 14th June

A visit to Pig Bush and to the Rowbarrow bog for Four-spotted Chaser, a common species in the New Forest which I had so far failed to see. There were several fresh individuals bombing around the bog with Keeled Skimmer and Large Red Damselfly also seen.

Keeled Skimmer

Four-spotted Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

Large Red Damselfly