Latchmere Bottom - 20th July

Highlights were Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, Small Red Damselfly, Emerald Damselfly, Bog Pimpernel and Lesser Skullcap.

The promised sunshine didn’t arrive until near the end of the walk and so the weather was mostly cloudy with some wind. Undeterred, 16 of us set off upstream to see what we could find. We stopped at the first inlet of the river where some blue damselflies were seen. These were Azure Damselfly. We also saw a few Blue-tailed Damselfly, a Large Red Damselfly and a Small Red Damselfly here. Stopping by the river we found several Beautiful Demoiselle flying and on the bank we found patches of Bog Pimpernel and Lesser Skullcap. A little further on some Water Plantain was flowering in a wet hollow. We crossed the river and walked further on. We saw a Common Darter which was nearly fully adult. It was mostly brown, but did have a red streak running up its body – this is the adult red colouration coming in. Beside the river here, Veronica found an Emerald Damselfly, beautifully emerald green with a sky blue tail and body.
We walked along a boggy stream running parallel to the river. Sundews and Marsh St. John’s-wort were flowering and we could see the ginger spike of the Bog Asphodel seed heads. It was along here that we found the Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies. We saw about 10 altogether and managed to get great views of this very uncommon species. On the way back we also saw at least two Broad-bodied Chaser zooming around the Bracken and scrubby edges of the river.
Simon Curson