Abington Naturewatch: Dragons and Damsels

Wednesday 25 September 2024

Dragons and Damsels

14th September 2024 - over the past few sunny days, Andy M has spotted a number of Common Darter dragonflies, with their characteristic blood-red abdomen, and easily distinguished from the Ruddy Darter - the former having brown eyes and thorax, whereas the latter is uniformly red. He also spotted the more unusual Emerald Damselfly along the river, which has a lovely iridescent green sheen, and holds its wings out at an angle, not alongside the body like other damselflies. Finally, several Migrant Hawker, with the piercing blue rim to their eyes, were seen hunting over the reeds around the Granta Park lake.

Common Darter

Common Darter

Common Darter

Emerald Damselfly

Migrant Hawker

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The Aims of Abington Naturewatch

At their meeting on 9 April 2005 the members approved this revised version of the aims of Abington Naturewatch:

To monitor and record the wildlife (fauna & flora) within the borders of the Abingtons;
To encourage protection of our wildlife, maintain its quality and foster its diversity;
To promote awareness of the richness, potential and problems of the natural environment of the Abingtons;
To cooperate in improving access to the local natural environment for the benefit of all Abington villagers.

Pat Daunt, Founder

The organisation is informal and communication is by email if possible; members are notified of events from time to time. Contact details are maintained by a small "project team". There is currently no membership fee as costs are covered by voluntary contributions at events.

Members are encouraged to report notable sightings of flora and fauna within the Abingtons to the appropriate sector coordinator and an illustrated record is published annually.

A map of the area covered, with some features noted, is available here: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=213774935674882866424.00000111dca2be9f06ab8&z=13>

For more information or to join, please contact David Farrant on (01223) 892871.

Contributions to our records should be sent to sector contacts or either of the above. Photographs may also be submitted to Andy Merryweather (amerryweather61@gmail.com)