Not wanting to travel too far in the afternoon heat, I opted to explore a new site near Abingdon. Dry Sandford pit is a nature reserve owned by the BBOWT (Wildlife trust) and was formerly a limestone quarry. Within the quarry are now a range of habitats including ponds and streams, scrub and grassland and some fossil rich cliffs.
As I was about to enter the reserve through a wooden gate, I got into conversation with someone who was also looking for dragonflies. We also started to talk about butterflies and he told me he had managed to see all the UK species. He asked which ones I still had to find, and suggested a few places, most of which I had read of, but as yet am not sure when I will have an opportunity to visit them. It seems I need a holiday in the Lake District at the beginning of July, just not possible with school termtime dates! In return I told him about the site in Gloucestershire where large blues can be found. This seemed considerably nearer for him (he lived in Stevenage!) than Somerset where he had seen them before.
I followed one of the paths until I reached one of the ponds where I hoped I might add to my list of dragonflies and damselflies. Being so dry underfoot meant that some areas which may not normally be accessible due to being very boggy, were easier to reach. With the help from another photographer, I was able to locate a keeled skimmer, a dragonfly with a powder blue body and grey eyes, which was another new species to add to my year list. There are apparently southern damselflies at this location, and I was told an area to search, but I only found common blues. However, being only half an hour away from home, this is a place I could easily return to.
keeled skimmer
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