The Lincolnshire Bird Club

The Gib Point population seems to have survived another year.
3 males were on the Mere on Sunday 3rd and again today.
At times thay can be reasonably close to the hide but mostly they spend their time out over the open water as far away as the BH Gulls's nest. Also I have had them perched on reeds in the area behind the depth guage. Visible through binoculars but better on 30x through a scope. There are no other Darters on the Mere at the moment. They were catching small insects and hovering quite alot.
It seems that they can be hard to find as Chris and Sue spent some hours walking around the Mere and viewing from the hide this afternoon without seeing them. I was watching between 10 and 11 today and Sunday.

A pair of red-veined darters were seen ovipositing on the Mere at Gib today by Ed Mackrill, Chris Bottomer and me. The first male red-veined darter was seen just after 10am (timing predicted by Ed!) followed by the pair in tandem. Males were still patrolling after 11.30am. The ovipositing behaviour was the first time that definite breeding behaviour has been seen at Gib, to the best of Ed and Chris's knowledge.

Also seen along the Mill Pond Road waterbodies were azure, common blue, small red-eyed and blue-tailed damselflies and emperor, black-tailed skimmers and four-spotted chasers.

Nick

Plenty of Red-veined Darter activity on the Mere again today - calm and humid conditions. A female in tandem was ovipositing over a wide area well out over the open water and at least 2 other males were patrolling.

It's not been ideal weather conditions for dragonflies at Gib recently but yesterday's improvement brought out a male RV Darter which patrolled along the east side of the Mere, near the depth guage, in the sun and in the shade of the reeds.