Dragonfly Notspot

This morning I started my road trip at RSPB Newport Wetlands, a reserve I’d never visited before. It’s a former industrial site at the mouth of the River Usk, with good walks through woodland and between the extensive reed beds, as well as along the estuary path. I liked it, though it was bizarrely quiet today, with many of the ponds and lagoons appearing quite empty of life.

The most notable absentees were Odonata: this reserve has been designated a Dragonfly Hotspot by the BDS, but I saw just two dragonflies, in flight and at a distance, and - almost unbelievably - not a single damselfly. In better news though, I arrived at one of the viewing screens at the exact same moment as a Bittern landed on the edge of some nearby reeds, and while I was just too late get a photo, any day with a Bittern sighting counts as a good day. I also saw and photographed my first ever bee orchid, which was pretty cool.

This is the phone image I snapped (and sent to R as proof of life) of the East Usk Lighthouse, a working light that stands on the edge of the Wetlands. I didn't take many photos today, and kept even fewer, and out of those it best summarises the way the day went, and felt. But I've added a second image, which is interesting because it's something I'd read about but hadn't ever seen before. After leaving the Newport Wetlands I made a brief stop at Forest Farm in Cardiff in a vain search for Golden-ringed Dragonflies, and saw this well-grown juvenile Moorhen babysitting a brood of chicks. Unlike Coots, which tend only to breed once each season, Moorhens can run to as many as four broods in a good year, and when this happens the older children get involved in caring for the younger ones. 

From Cardiff I drove west to Pembrokeshire, where I’ll be staying for the next three nights in the lovely surroundings of Monk Haven Manor. Tomorrow, if the wind direction gods are smiling, I’ll be taking a boat from Martin’s Haven to Skomer.