My previous trips to Australia have been in the first half of their dragonfly season, between October and December. This was my first chance to see the effects of being there in the second half of their main season, between January and March. The equivalent timing in the UK would be between July and September, when the mix of species changes and the variety begins to fall off. I’ve been keen to see if the same pattern would be repeated in Australia, as I suspected it would. We’d found a couple of example sites in and around Stanley so I set off to investigate.
My first port of call was to Stanley Barge Dam, within walking distance of our base with Francine’s brother. I actually visited it a coupe of times but I was stuck with just five species, exactly half of the 10 species I’d found here in October 2017. Nonetheless I was very happy to be able to snap a pair of the delightful and diminutive Ischnura aurora (Aurora Bluetail) in tandem.
In 2017 I’d visited Woolshed Falls which I’d found quite entertaining, though I was surprised to discover that I’d seen just three species. Perhaps that was down to novelty and spending time snagging Hemicordulia tau (Tau Emerald) in flight.
Prior to our trip, I’d investigated sightings on iNaturalist and discovered a new spot, actually the Reedy Creek free camping area, some way below Woolshed Falls. Our local guide managed to get us there over some unsealed tracks. This was a well worth while exercise with five species, one of which was completely new to me: Austrogomphus guerini (Yellow-striped Hunter). Francine’s brother, our guide, even seemed to be enjoying looking for dragonflies, too. He was scouring the river and calling me when he spotted something. I saw this new suspect again back up at the falls. Since I had not seen it anywhere in October 2017, maybe this is a later-flying species. [I should point out that the Australian Field Guide has no flight season information.]
The other local spot of note is Lake Sambell in Beechworth. This didn’t make a fair comparison, however, because I discovered a previously unexplored piece of habitat at the south-western end of the main lake; it was a little like a flush. This year I got up to seven species, including a particularly cooperative male Anax papuensis (Australian Emperor).
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