Chasing Chasers

We've moved into what looks as if it might be quite a tricky period of weather. It was stormy overnight, which didn't help me catch up on my rest after a tiring day, and this morning dawned dark, windy, and quite cold. Eventually the sun emerged and the temperature improved, but it was still windy, with gusts into the upper twenties, which is terrible for macro photography and isn't much good for dragonflies either.

Nonetheless, after lunch I toured the local Odonata hotspots in the hope that at least a few dragons might be brave enough to venture out, and I hit lucky down at Cleeve Prior Mill. There were five or six Scarce Chasers in the clearing, ranging in age from extremely fresh through to mature, and in attitude from nervous and flighty to confident and assertive. I was especially taken with this very fresh female, who despite her immaturity showed no tendency to hide, but perched boldly right out in the open, and held her nerve even when I came quite close. I was just switching from the long lens to the macro when she flew, and I thought I'd finally pushed my luck too far, but it turned out that she'd just gone off to get a snack, and a few seconds later she circled round and landed back on the same stem.

At this stage of life you can only really separate male and female Scarce Chasers by checking their genitalia (it's also said that the female abdomen is a little broader and rounder than the male's, but that's not a helpful identifying feature when you're faced with a single specimen). But whereas within a week of emergence a male would be starting his dramatic transformation, this female will continue to look pretty much the same. By the time she's fully mature her bright orange colouration will have dulled to an orangey brown, her eyes will be paler, and she'll have lost the orange veining in her wings; and eventually, if she lives long enough, she'll darken to a uniform drab brown. Even when mature she'll bear a passing physical resemblance to an immature male, but by then her behaviour will be very different: while male Scarce Chasers of all ages can be found patrolling and perching near water, mature females tend to keep themselves to themselves, and only approach the water side when they have eggs that are ready to be fertilised, and they're actively looking to breed. 

It's only fifteen days since I passed the 4,000-blip milestone, so it's a little embarrassing that today is another cake and balloons day: it really doesn't feel as though I deserve another blipversary so soon. But anyway, this post marks the end of my 11th year of blipping, which is - well, not an insignificant thing, I guess. Once again I'd like to send sincere thanks to the people at Blip Central who keep the site going, and express my genuine appreciation of the blipfriends I've made down the years. Right now I feel lucky, happy, and grateful.