Hull Dragonfly best spots: Noddle Hill LNR

A trip to Noddle Hill on a morning with at least an hour of sun forecast. The sun is shining and the temperature steadily rises, with barely any wind. Sightings start early as I flush a male Black-tailed Skimmer in one of the first fishing platform. It flies about but doesn't settle back, but it makes the first record for the site this year. Then, a Southern Hawker was hunting by the lake perimeter path. It checks me out - in good southern hawker fashion - only to go and rest on a poplar nearby. I manage to spot it settled, catching the sun. It is an immature male, its colour is not yet fully developed, olive eyes and lacking the beautiful apple-green of the mature adult.

 A little further ahead, a pale damselfly catches my attention. It is a teneral Red-eyed Damselfly female. A sign of successful breeding in the lake.

 A Common Blue Damselfly male basks on the path.

 I check the water surface in search of Red-eyed damselflies. The anglers have removed a lot of floating vegetation, which is piling by the shore. I return some swan mussels back to the water. On a floating leaf I find the first male Red-eyed. There are 5 in total about.

 I walk around the reserve towards a long pond which is overgrown with vegetation. On the same spot where I found a male last year there is a female Emerald Damselfly (top shot). She is very approachable and lets me take several photos. On the same area a hawker flies over my head, but I can't refind it. This happens a couple of times today.

I am more lucky with this Black-tailed skimmer, who basks on the mowed path.

A Ruddy darter sits on a leaf. While I take this photo a deer fly bites my arm!

I do another circuit of the lake, this time spotting a mating pair of Azure Damselflies, who fly high onto a willow to escape another male.

I watch a Southern Hawker hunting on a clearing by the lake, clashing wings with another individual. 

The sunny spells become shorter and shorter. It has been a good session, with 8 species recorded for the site this morning: Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Red-eyed Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Southern Hawker, Emerald Damselfly, Black-tailed Skimmer and Ruddy Darter. 

Noddle Hill is a great site for dragonflies as it combines a diversity of wetland habitats: ditches and drains (which surround the site), wet meadows, permanent ponds and a large lake. There is a woodland surrounding the lake, which offers shelter during windy conditions and rides with plenty of insects. Some of the aquatic sites are well vegetated too, a few of them becoming overgrown.

A total of 16 species have been recorded in the site overall. In addition to those seen today these are:

Common Darter. Record from 2002. UPDATE, 2nd September 2019

Migrant Hawker. Since 2002. Present, 2nd September 2019

Emperor Dragonfly. Since 2002, where larvae and adults where present. Territorial male (2018)

Four spotted Chaser. Since 2002. Territorial males (2018)

Banded Demoiselle. Single record (2015).
Small Red-eyed Damselfly (2006)
Large Red Damselfly. Unclear when record/s were obtained.

Brown Hawker. Recorded in 2002 by Andrew Ashworth.

More information

For previous Wild at Hull posts on Noddle Hill click here.

Noddle Hill at the Yorkshire branch of the British Dragonfly Society website.

Noddle Hill management plan.
Skimmer. 2004. Article by Andrew Ashworth detailing the presence of 9 sp in the lake and pond, with 3 of them with evidence of breeding in the form of larvae.