Common garden damselflies and dragonflies in the Hull area

Although a total of 23 species of dragonflies and damselflies have been recorded in Hull, only a subset of them can be considered regular in gardens, and a few species will even turn up in gardens without a pond. Here, I will present seven of the species most common in gardens, with identification tips. These species provide a useful benchmark to help you to identify rarer dragonflies and damselflies when in other habitats.

Damselflies

Two species of damselfly are common in gardens, where they regularly breed. They are even tolerant of fish, provided there are areas of thicker vegetation where their larvae can seek refuge, and will be even present in ornamental ponds with hard edges. Both are blue and black. 

1. Azure Damselfly

The Azure Damselfly gives an all vivid blue impression, it has a distinctive black hook or spur pointing forward on the side of its thorax, which distinguishes it in our area from the Common Blue Damselfly. I should have said males are all blue, as females are often green and black, as in the photo above. They can be found even in tiny garden ponds, provided they have plenty of vegetation near or in the pond. It flies from early May to early August.

2. Blue-tailed Damselfly

The Blue-tailed damselfly is the most common species recorded in Hull. It tolerates of all sorts of conditions: brackish ponds, polluted ponds, fish, and even poor weather! It  It has been described as a 'flying magic wand', as its black abdomen contrasts with the blue band near the tip. It has a distinctive two-colour wing spot, which is useful to identify females, which come in 5 different colour forms. It has a long flying season, from late April to late September.

Dragonflies

3. Broad-bodied Chaser
This is a stunning dragonfly, the immatures are yellow and brown, with dark wing bases and a characteristic wide abdomen. In flight it is very reminiscent of a hornet. Mature males develop a powdery blue colour in their abdomen. This is a species likely to use newly built ponds, or ponds with plenty of bare or muddy margins. They fly early in the season, from mid May to mid August.

4. Migrant Hawker

This is the most common hawker in Hull, and is regularly found in gardens away from water. The individual pictured is a mature male, but it is immatures that are commonly found in gardens, and these have subdued colours and milky eyes. They tend to fly in the open at 3-5 m high, often going round and round in a relatively small area. It tolerates other individuals, which will congregate in gardens with plenty of food. It flies from late July to late October or early November. Although plentiful in gardens during their immature stage, they tend to breed in lakes and ditches. 

The usual view of a flying migrant hawker over a garden.


5. Southern hawker
A large colourful hawker, one of the most strikingly marked. The combination of apple green and blue markings in mature individuals is characteristic, as their habit of being curious towards humans, flying close as if checking you out. It tends to hawk close to the ground alongside paths and close to tree canopies, often in shaded, sheltered places. Females will lay eggs on floating wood or marginal vegetation in relatively shaded ponds. It has a long flight season, from mid-June until October.

6. Common Darter

A small dragonfly that hunts from the ground, or a perch, to which it returns. Immature individuals are yellow, but males become orangey-red, with two yellow panels on the side of the thorax. All individuals have a thin yellow stripe alongside their legs. One of the most common dragonflies. It can breed in garden ponds of medium or large size and including ornamental ponds. It has a long flight season, from June until November.

7. Ruddy Darter
The Ruddy Darter is less common than the Common Darter. It prefers to hunt from a perch, or from the ground, to which it returns after catching prey. Males have a more intense red than the common darter and a more waisted abdomen. Immature individuals and females are orange/yellow. The legs in both sexes are black. Flies from mid June to mid October. It breeds in ponds with plenty of marginal vegetation, although it can roam, and can be found in gardens away from ponds.

More information

• If you are interested in identifying dragonflies and damselflies, Yorkshire Dragonfly Group has plenty of information on all the species and interesting sites to visit and runs an active Facebook group.
• If you have any dragonfly records from your garden in the Hull area you can either submit the record to iRecord, or message me in the blog comments or on Twitter.
• For more information on Hull Dragonflies and damselflies you can read the City of Dragons 2019 report here.

Bug heads

Dead heading is one of the rules of gardening, isn't it? You are told to remove the faded flowers so that seeds don't form, as they extract lots of energy from the plant. But what will you miss? you want to look at seedheads. In a walk around my local wildlife garden I found that meadow cranesbill's seedheads were busy with shieldbugs of several species, feeding on them. Among the bugs there were some striking black and red ones (above), which I had never seen before, they were very flighty and the light conditions were not right, but I managed some shots. Upon looking into the British Bugs site I identified them as Corizus hyoscyami a species that during the last decade has expanded throughout England from a few coastal locations in Wales, another species that, according to the NBN gateway, wasn't known to have crossed the Humber before.

Corizus hyoscyami feeding on developing cranesbill seeds

Nymph Green Shieldbug, Palomena prasina

Rhopalus subrufus, one of the most abundant today

The first Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina adult of the year

Likely Corizus hyoscyami nymph. Thank you to Dave who identified it in a comment.

Dolycoris baccarum Hairy Shieldbug

This dark Forest Bug, Pentatoma rufipes, had a ride home on my trousers 

I must remember to leave my geranium seedheads for next year, as true bugs (hemiptera) are one of my favourite insects. One job less to do, and plenty of opportunities to enjoy bugs.

Forked tailed flower bee on common toadflax

I planted a new bed with native flowers earlier in the year: foxgloves, hedge woundwort, common toadflax, oregano and bird's foot trefoil. It has been very popular with bees and other insects, but there was the one plant that I hadn't seen being visited: the common toadflax, Linaria vulgaris. This relative of the snapdragon has spikes of closed flowers that require some effort for insect to access the nectar and pollen. On top of that, the flower has a very long spur which contains the nectar, so only long-tongued bees can reach the nectar - barring nectar robbers which will make a hole in the spur. The wait was worth its while, as last week, later than I have seen this species before, a female Anthophora furcata turned up and fed on all available flowers, collecting the pollen. She was also pollinating the flower, you might see the flower's anther pushing against the bee's head. The bee came back again the same day for another visit. She had large bare patches on the abdomen and thorax, but still showed the characteristic fringe of red hairs at the end of the abdomen. The flowers are beautiful, it is a native plant and it attracts one of my favourite bees, what else can one ask for?

UPDATE 20/09/12
Since writing this post, I have watched the long tongued bumblebee Bombus pascuorum visiting these flowers too.

Dandelion bugs

 The verges around the streets have started to be brightened by the sunny faces of dandelions. Much hated by gardeners as the epitome of "weeds", I very rarely pull them in the garden, I just love their intense yellow and the fascination they exert on so many different bugs. As dandelions also start to bloom relatively early, they are an important source of nectar and pollen for many insects. And if you wait, by May you'll have lovely clocks for kids to blow. Leave them be and enjoy them!
 And now a gallery of dandelion bugs if you needed any more convincing. First bees, and not only honeybees...

... but many species of bumblebees and solitary bees...

Emerging Queen bumblebees often feed on them: a the red tailed bumblebee Bombus lapidarius

and this Buff tailed bumblebee queen Bombus terrestris

A poor photo showing two bee species, the cleptoparasite Melecta albifrons and an early bumblebee queen Bombus pratorum.

Other early spring solitary bees can often be seen having a dandelion pollen bath

An unidentified solitary bee

A couple of Red Mason Bees.

And butterflies too...

A long distance shot of a Brimstone,

a Green-Veined White,

And Small Tortoiseshells too.

And last, but not least, many hoverflies use dandelions too

The narcissus fly, Merodon equestris, mating

 Episyrphus balteatus often meet on dandelion flower heads

 Two hoverfly species, a Helophilus pendulus and a Sphaerophoria sp.

I am sure I have missed many more. But not only insects, but also goldfinches enjoy dandelions. Here one feeding on white seeds on my doorstep.

Buzzing laurustinus

 I planted a laurustinus (Viburnum tinus) bush on a large pot a couple of years ago and placed it opposite the window where we eat, a sheltered patio area. I did not realised at the time what a great location this was and what a fantastic bug magnet this bush is. One of the best features of lauristinus is its long winter flowering season (from October to May). My new vantage point has also revealed that their pollen and nectar rich flowers are often visited by honeybees, hoverflies and droneflies during mild winter days, as you can see in the photos below, all taken a few days ago. Come spring they are also visited by butterflies like the Holly Blue and early bumblebee Bombus pratorum queens. As this hardy bush does not mind shady conditions, their pink-white flowers are a good way of lightening dark corners of the garden.

A poor shot of Episyrphus balteatus

Eristalis sp. Dronefly.

The one on top of the post is possibly Meliscaeva auricollis, thank you Geoff F from WAB for the tentative ID given the difficult angle.

Lambs ears shieldbugs

Although I keep Lambs ears (Stachys byzantina) in the garden for the benefit of the Wool Carder bees this plant also attracts many other bugs. They provide a lot of structure with their large woolly leaves, and spiders, harvestmen and ladybirds are often found on them. They also offer sheltered overwintering opportunities. My other favourite lambs ears bug is a true bug, the pretty shieldbug Eysarcoris venustissimus, also known as the Woundwort shieldbug, as their usual feeding plant is the native Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica). This is a small shiny bug that appears in a single generation per year. The adults are bronze, grey and white with fine black speckling. They emerge from hibernation in April and can be found mating on May. Females lay their eggs in Stachys plants. Nymphs can be easily found on July and August and by September there is a new adult generation. Today, I watched at least nine nymphs in various stages of development on the Stachys plant. Nymphs are green and black or pinkish and black. All the nymph photos were taken today. 

An early instar nymph. The object near it are seeds of Circaea luthethiana

A group of Wounwort shieldbugs with a green shieldbug nymph.

A last instar nymph. They can be recognised by their black wing buds

A mating pair on Stachys bizantina (11/5/11)

UPDATE 25/08/11. Replaced a photo with the early instar one.

The Bee and the Bee Nettle

I found a patch of White Dead-nettle, Lamium album, on my usual daily route. It is in a nicely kept garden and, although it could have left there on purpose, its days might be counted and it could be removed the next time the garden is weeded. If time allows, I stop for a few minutes each day to watch bees feeding on it. The White Dead-nettle is a member of the mint family and it is quite easy to recognise with its nettle-like leaves coupled with white whorls of flowers. Another name for this plant is bee nettle, which is quite apt, as it is an appreciated source of early nectar and pollen for long-tongued bees. One of the days I visited, I tool a photo of the flowers and when I reviewed it at home I found out I had inadvertently shot a male of Anthophora plumipes passing by in his patrol (above). Yesterday there were an A. plumipes female and a Bombus hortorum queen feeding at the same time. Both stayed for quite a while, fastidiously visiting every open flower.

A Bombus hortorum queen and a female A. plumipes (bottom right hand corner) feeding

Female A. plumipes and White Dead-nettle

For Bombus hortorum, a very long tongued bumblebee, the White Dead nettle is the predominant native source of nectar and pollen in April, although I have watched this bumblebee feeding on ornamental Hyacinths, Rosemary, Broom and Apple blossom in early spring.

Flower Bee Garden

Misty start and then sunny, if a bit cool, day today. After finally getting Comfrey (Symphitum officinale) in the garden centre this Easter, I think I have completed my Anthophora plumipes garden. To prove the point, a female fed successively on Tree Germander (Teucrium fruticans), Primroses (Primula vulgaris), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and Lithodora diffusa. The Grape Hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) are almost spent now but the rest of plants are starting to flower in earnest. The Primroses (from wild seed) were only plug plants a couple of weeks ago and are now flowering. The patch of Cowslip (Primula veris) under the fig is blooming non-stop and it seems to be a favourite. Maybe the cooler days we are having are a bonus for the female Anthophora, as the males prefer to fly in warmer weather. As soon as the sun appeared this morning a female was feeding out, not bothered by males. I managed to get a few shots of her when feeding on the Tree Germander. I guess that the species in this area is more limited by food plants than by nesting sites. Given the abundance of Victorian buildings, with lime based mortar nesting sites should be plenty.

A. plumipes female hovering on Tree Germander

 I let the shovel aside and take the camera to get some shots of the early critters mostly enjoying the sun in the garden, including a wolf spider and a male red mason bee (Osmia rufa). I still have to get comfortable with the macro setting in the G10. I do miss the supermacro mode in the G6, it was much faster to get the camera ready for close-ups.

An illustrated compendium of A. plumipes garden plants follows.

Cytisus racemosus

Grape hyacinth

Pulmonaria 'Blue Ensign'

Primrose

Rosemary

Patch of cowslip

One of the first flowers of the Lithodora diffusa

Native flower internet providers (seeds and plugs)
meadowmania
Really wild flowers