Unfortunately the planned trip to Wykeham Lakes to see the dragonflies with Keith had to be postponed, so an alternative to Gilling Lakes was arranged instead. A select group of Ryenats members met at the gate leading to Gilling Lakes, where we spent a happy half hour or so watching the dragon- and damseflies. The weather was not ideal, with only patchy sunshine, but it was warm enough for several species to be active.

Brown hawker laying eggs in wood

Male Black-tailed skimmer

We saw a female brown hawker laying eggs in a piece of rottten wood along the dam, and two or three male black-tailed skimmers sunning themselves on the track and fishing platform. We also saw a four-spotted chaser and an Emperor dragonfly flying over the water but they would not pose for photos. Of the smaller species we saw common blue, blue-tailed, emerald and red-eyed damselflies and one male banded demoiselle.

We then walked slowly round the lake, looking at plants on the way – and we also saw a hawker dragonfly hunting under the trees. I suspect it was a Southern hawker but we did not get a good view of it. There were quite a few butterflies on the wing, including meadow brown, speckled wood green-veined white and ringlet. I was surprised to see a group of 7 or 8 very fresh looking green-veined whites gathered on a fresh deposit of horse manure, presumably after moisture and/or salts. Another surprise was this wasps’ nest in the lower branches of a confer (hemlock I think). I did not get any closer so cannot tell what kind of wasps they are!

Wasps’ nest

Ringlet butterfly

We did not examine all the plants as this was a trip primarily for the insects, but we did note the hemp agrimony just coming into flower (this is an excellent butterfly plant, visited by such species as red admiral, small tortoiseshell and peacock a little later in the season). We also spotted several plants of the umbellifer greater burnet saxifrage, which is said to be uncommon but has a stronghold in the Gilling-Ampleforth area.

Hemp agrimony

Greater burnet saxifrage