As I mentioned previously, the Netherlands is home to all five species of White-faced Darters that occur in Europe. My first target of the Irish Damselfly (Coenagrion lunulatum) having been met, Antonio had set himself another goal: show me all five Whiteface species.
So, I’m sure that the Small Faces went on tour but this looked like turning into the Whitefaces tour, hence my title.
Before arriving here, I’d seen three of the species before. Just one occurs in the UK and I’d seen two more in France, though I could do with improved pictures of both those. On Friday with Antonio I’d seen my fourth so I really had just one outstanding … plus the improved pictures of two if I could get them. Given Antonio’s knowledge and spotting skills, I was quietly confident, assuming the weather would play fair. Antonio turned up at 10:00 to collect me and off we set.
We ended up at a water body which was a rather odd mix of recreational water, with a sandy beach area at one end, and a much quieter area with emergent vegetation and woodland at the other end. Being a pleasant Sunday, the beachy area was being used by a family or two. We made our way to the wildlife end.
It wasn’t long before Antonio was spotting my outstanding Whiteface species, the Dark Whiteface/Eastern White-faced Darter (Leucorrhinia albifrons). Now, IMHO, it’s the turn of the scientific name to be a bit silly – albifrons = white frons but all the Whiteface have a white frons, that’s the entire point. Picky as that may be, I was delighted to have it. These characters have the most delightful light flashes of wing veining outboard of their pterostigmas; they really are charming.
I had but one photograph in my collection of the Yellow-spotted Whiteface/Large White-faced Darter (Leucorrhinia pectoralis), snagged at the well known Pinail Trail in central France. This was one the two I was keen to improve upon. Happily, at the same location, several were flitting around and occasionally settling. They were slightly less than cooperative when it came to showing their white face, but I grabbed what I could.
We visited a second location but that proved less than scintillating, then we moved on to the Weerribben reserve, which I had visited with Antonio two years ago. Here was his last target, the Lilypad Whiteface/Dainty White-faced Darter (Leucorrhinia caudalis). This, I had seen at La Brenne in France several years ago but the subjects were a little distant and I was keen to improve on the images. Weerribben and Antonio produced and here is an attempt. They are wonderfully twitchy little critters and, as the name implies, love perching on lily pads.
Antonio had given me four of the five Whitefaces in a couple of days. Tomorrow, weather permitting, he would try to complete the European set with the one species that we get in the UK.
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