With a sunny day forecast and temperatures due to reach the low 30's I
decided to head to Bickershaw Country Park in the hope that I might see a
few dragonflies and possibly reconnect with the recent Norfolk hawkers that
were there in June.
What I was certainly NOT expecting to find was a male keeled skimmer which
performed well right in front of me. So far as I can tell this was only the
2nd keeled skimmer ever in Greater Manchester. If that wasn't surprising
enough, I was even more amazed when a female suddenly appeared from nowhere and the
pair hooked up and proceeded to mate!
This is a species of moorland and peat bogs and the closest breeding
populations that I know of are in the Lake District where I have seen them previously. An
unbelievable record.
The Lancashire and Greater Manchester (VC59 & VC60) dragonfly recorder Steve White has commented:
"The keeled Skimmers are amazing. I know of only one other record in GM. Several years ago in the West Pennines. Well established in Lancs but confined to a quite small area of Bowland and showing no signs of range expansion. So all previous VC59 & 60 records have been in the uplands."
No comments:
Post a Comment