National Dragonfly Week 2022

Normally, at this time of year, I would be leading a wildlife walk, showing folk the wonders of dragonflies and damselflies, as well as any other natural history we happened upon. For 2022, what with the weather, work and a woeful lack of preparation, it just hasn't happened.

Yet.

Thankfully, I did receive reports that some dragonflies were finally on the wing, so for the first day of NDW, Megan and I made the trip to Hoy to enjoy their company and some bracing fresh air.

The Martello Towers at Hackness and Crockness, on the approach to Lyness

Incidentally, this ferry trip was the same route undertaken by Ralph Little for the recent series of the BBC's 'Who Do You Think You Are?'

He drove past wir hoos!!

Once ashore at Lyness, we made our way inland, soaking up the sights and sounds of Nature as we climbed up Wee Fea.

Tysties

Teenage Tystie

Large Heath butterfly

One of the Forget-Me-Nots

Bog Asphodel

Upon reaching the most easily-accessible bog pools, we were soon finding insects roosting within the vegetation at the water's edge. A strong northwesterly breeze meant that any newly emerged insect taking its maiden flight was swiftly whisked away downhill to the south east until it could drop into some still air in the lee of a bank or mound.

A female Emerald Damselfly

A recently-emerged Black Darter

Fairy Flax

An immature male Emerald Damselfly

One of the old wartime piers at Lyness

A male Blue-tailed Damselfly

A female Blue-tailed Damselfly

Cloudy, overcast and cool aren't favourable conditions for an insect to be on the wing, so we mainly found odes at rest, hunkered down waiting for the weather to improve. Interestingly, of the three sites we visited, approximately a kilometre apart, a different species was the most abundant at each one. At the top of the hill it was Common Blue Damselfly, halfway down it was Emerald Damselfly and at the bottom it was Blue-tailed Damselfly. These water bodies are not exactly the same but, over the years, I had not previously noticed such a marked difference in species composition.

For the latter half of Dragonfly Week, I was going to be outwith the county, working in Shetland, but there was one more slight, but tantalising, opportunity for a bit of odo watching before I left. It should be noted that there are even fewer dragons and damsels in Shetland than Orkney, not counting the Valkyries.