Our good fortune with the Virginia weather continues.

With a day to ourselves, I came up with a cunning plan. In the middle-ish of Richmond is the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Just south of that, on the southern side of the James River, is a park where I’d seen a number of dragonfly sightings reported. My plan was to take Francine to see the art works while the day was warming up, then repair to the park to see if we could find some November Odonata.

We managed to find the museum’s parking garage [$6] and found that the museum itself had no admission charge. We began exploring.

One of the main attractions here is what was a private collection [Pratt collection], now bequeathed to the museum, of Fabergé jewellery. Surely the pieces of most interest and fascination must be five of the Fabergé Easter eggs.The workmanship and attention to detail is truly astounding. This is the Red Cross Egg with Imperial Portraits.

After the sanity of Fabergé, we inevitably strayed into the more modern art works. These generally fall into the category of completely inexplicable, to me, anyway, a self-confessed artistic numbskull. What I do find entertaining, though, is the complete bollocks spouted by the artists attempting to “explain” their work. Here’s an example. Passage to India? Go figure.

Here is a another very odd example. This is actually a 3D work, I believe made of chunks of leather sewn together. The explanation had me rolling with laughter. At least this is Untitled. I mean, seriously, would you hang this on your wall? All artists must be taught how to come up with pseudo-intellectual descriptions.

I’ll stick with the Fabergé. We left the so-called artworks [personally, I think they’re all having a laugh], went to the museum’s café for some lunch and then left for a possible Odonata hunt.

We headed to the south side of the James River and the Pony Pasture Trail, where there is a rough car park. It was well used but there was plenty of space. I’d seen two locations worth investigating. The first was the rocky banks of the river itself where there had been several sightings of a couple of delightful American damselflies. My first approach was successful; a Smoky Rubyspot (Hetaerina titia) was perched on the first collection of rocks that I investigated. It was reasonably approachable, too.

A little further upstream another Rubyspot was perched on another rock and posing for the camera. Without the smoky wingtip, I was hoping that this would prove to be the American Rubyspot (Hetaerina americana). I need to wait to get other opinions, though.

We walked along to a second area of interest, a wetland area. Here there had been observations of two darters, which Americans refer to as Meadowhawks. I was hoping that I might see the Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum) but alas, it was not to be. This was my third piece of habitat where I drew a blank. The water was very low – the area needs rain – which may have been partly to blame. I was content with my Rubyspots, though.

A new book has been published on the “Dragonflies of North America”. One UK source that I use has it “available for pre-order” but I could find no expected date when it might become available. What I did find was that it is available already on Amazon in the States. So, I got it ordered to be delivered here, today, using our friend’s prime account.

It was here when we arrived back from our excursion and I was eager to check the identity of my new damselflies. As soon as I opened the book I got a bit of a shock.

There is no doubting the quality of the book’s production. Whereas my existing volumes [there are two] on American species are photographic, this new book uses illustrations with identification pointers. It is the first time I’ve ever seen illustrations to rival the quality of those drawn by Richard Lewington. I quickly realized that this book has a precisely accurate title, however.

Odonata comprises both Anisoptera and Zygoptera; Zygoptera being the damselflies and Anisoptera being the dragonflies. Increasingly in our modern, somewhat dumbed-down world however, “dragonflies” is often used to encompass both sub-orders, in other words to be a synonym of Odonata. That confusion requires another common term, “true dragonflies”, to mean the Anisoptera. [No, I don’t like it.]

My first glance in my new book made me realize that it did, indeed, perfectly accurately cover ONLY the dragonflies and NOT the damselflies. Given the modern parlance, it was not what I expected. I can only hope that a second companion volume my be produced, but I won’t hold my breath.

So, beautiful book though it is, I’ll still need another source to verify my new damselflies.

[The second of our planned scary days on this trip to the States.]

This one really was scary, much more so than Halloween, and a lot less fun. Today was the day of the American presidential election.

Before the shit well and truly hit the fan in the evening, after doing her duty by voting, our host took us out to visit a couple of Virginia’s many vineyards and, boy, were we going to need a drink.

First up was the Fifty-third Winery and Vineyard, so called, apparently, because it was the 53rd vineyard in Virginia. Here we came across the concept of “flights”. A flight is a tasting selection, in our case of four of their wines. We both had two whites and two reds. Our whites overlapped but our reds were different [there were more dry reds than dry whites] so, in effect, we tasted six wines. Our favourite was a white Albariño, just about our favourite Spanish white grape. We bought a bottle for later.

Next up was Keswick Vineyard; over here the “w” is not silent. We had just half an hour before heading back for what promised to be a very scary evening so we just bought a bottle of wine to share between us. Viognier being our favourite French white wine, we chose that from their menu. I have to say that it was almost as good as the Beauvignac Viognier from the south of France … and considerably more expensive.

The rest, by the time anyone reads this, is history. We watched in horror as the earlier results of the American election came in, with Trump over-performing compared to last time and Harris under-performing compared to Biden when he scraped in. I felt I could feel the entire rest of the western world holding its collective breath. It was all far too depressing.

The morning results were even worse. America had overwhelmingly elected an ignorant, narcissistic pathological liar; he’d swept up all seven of the so-called swing states. This was little short of a disaster for sanity, the west and, indeed, the world. It was unbelievable to me that so many people could vote for such an egotistical maniac.

Welcome to America.

A few miles away from where we are staying on the west side of Richmond, Virginia, lies Tuckahoe Creek Park. Francine spotted it on a map. Tuckahoe Creek flows around the property we are lodged in but it is inaccessible, here, being heavily wooded and fenced off from all the building work going on as yet more large buildings are constructed for more elderly inmates. So, an opportunity to see it from an accessible position was appealing.

There is a route through the park with a car park at one end and street parking at the other end. For some reason we opted for the street parking end and set off.

We found a very well constructed boardwalk, complete with metal safety rails, that meanders its way through the park beside a delightful stretch of wonderful looking fresh water habitat. There was a slightly cool breeze but the sun shone. It was glorious.

Long story short: we spotted not a sign of any odonata. I checked on iNaturalist and there are reports of dragonflies from here but not today, sadly.

At the beginning of our wander along the boardwalk we did, though, manage to add to my extremely limited collection of American bird species. Skulking about in the wooded area was something resembling a thrush but with considerably longer tail. We identified it as a Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum); aren’t some common names wonderful?

Perched in a tree nearby the Brown Thrasher was a female Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), though being a female it wasn’t at all blue. With the reddish brown breast I initially wrote it off as another American Robin but, no. Luckily I corrected my assumption; the American Robin has more extensive red on the breast.

Other than some turtles, possible Eastern Painted Turtle (Crysemys picta) swimming in the creek, that was the day’s interest. It was a very pleasant excursion to a restful environment, though.

On our trip to Skyline Drive we had driven through a quaint looking town called Gordonsville. So, for a day out alone, Francine and I thought we’d go and investigate. Our return route could take us by Lake Anna which, though very large being a dammed lake, had many smallish sidearms that could prove interesting.

We found street parking and abandoned ship to wander up and down the main street; there really was just one street which suits me fine. At the end was a BBQ shack which could have been interesting but our attention was drawn to the Well Hung Vineyard restaurant. We had passed this establishment on the way up the main drag. It was:

Founded in 2008 by three women who recognized the value of a good joke and a great glass of wine …

It hadn’t looked very active at first but now we saw that there was a small marquee on the side which clearly was active. We couldn’t resist and went in.

The menu presented us with a relatively easy choice; Blackened Shrimp Cobb Salad was on offer and we both chose the same thing. The glass of wine was similarly easy since their list contained a Viognier, which is our favourite white grape. The “cobb salad” wasn’t quite what we expected, being composed of mixed leaves but, with the addition of egg, tomatoes, guacamole, bacon and cucumber as well, of course, the spicy blackened shrimp, it hit the spot.

While we digested our lunch we drove off towards Lake Anna. We found a boat ramp with parking which had some vegetation at the margins so we pulled in to investigate.

Bingo! We soon spotted some dragonfly activity in the sunshine. The dragonfly was the same that we’d found a few days earlier but, as a couple turned up to launch a boat also intent on enjoying the sunshine, we found a couple of damselflies both of which were new to me. Both were cousins of our own Common Blue Damselfy (Ischnura elegans). With the help of iNaturalist, I later managed to identify these as the Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis) and, with the broken antehumeral stripes, the delightful Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita). The Ischnura genus damselflies are known as Forktails in the States.

Happy camper again.

[The first of our two scheduled scary days in the US. The second is likely to be even scarier. Watch this space.]

One potential benefit that I saw about making a trip to Richmond, Virginia, at this time of year was that I’d be avoiding one of my greatest hates, Halloween. This trip has made me refine my definition in that it isn’t actually Halloween that I hate – I give Halloween absolutely no thought at all – but it’s that dreadful import from America of Trick or Treat.

[A few years ago I was heartened to see that Spain is putting up staunch resistance to the importation of an American festival, too, when they have traditional festivals of their own.]

I was a little surprised, therefore, when we were told that there was to be a Halloween party in this large retirement community and that we were expected to attend. Attending was one thing but we were to dress up, along with everyone else. The only children here are those that are 60+.

We are living as guests in  a large complex, pretty much a village in itself, run by Erickson Senior Living. It really is an impressively organized gated community with security and other staff, all of whom appear to enjoy their work. There are several interlinked blocks, some still being built, with several restaurants, a bar, and recreational areas. Such a place could quite easily feel institutionalized but happily it doesn’t. Many of the residents, which we refer to tongue-in-cheek as inmates, seem to eat in the restaurants almost every day. The apartments all have well equipped kitchens but I get the feeling that many of these are hardly ever used. We have eaten in a few of the restaurants several times and the food is excellent.

The afternoon began with a fancy-dress staff parade to the accompaniment of music. The inmates, also mostly in fancy dress, stood around applauding. Prizes in a few categories were awarded for the staff costumes.

For my sins, my wardrobe lady dressed me in medical scrubs as a surgeon. My neck was adorned with a toy stethoscope for added authenticity. Most people were also wearing masks – I tried a batman mask but it both seemed less than appropriate and felt uncomfortable, being made for a child, so I discarded that.

Later in the afternoon, many inmates gathered inside for a bit of costumed dancing. I was having a hard time believing what I was seeing. More prizes for costumes were awarded in more categories.

My surgeon outfit must have been a success because I was asked, “when are you operating”, all by ladies, on several occasions. I told them, “whenever you are ready” and advised them to mark the bits they’d like removed, lest they lost anything they actually still needed. I could have made quite a bit of money.

Eventually sanity was restored.

After a traditionally leisurely start, we were driven out west about 90 minutes away to visit Skyline Drive.

Skyline Drive is a picturesque road at very nearly 3000 feet altitude] running north-south for 105 miles along a ridge in the Shenandoah National Park. For comparison, Scafell Pike is England’s highest peak at about 3200 feet/980 metres. The main idea was to see the fall colours of the trees. We joined at Swift Run Gap and turned south.

As is often the case, nature had other ideas; most of the leaves had fallen so much of the colour had gone. It did leave some impressive views down into the Shenandoah River valley, though. At this stop we were inundated with ladybirds, or ladybugs as they are called over here. The term bug  seems inappropriate to me in that these are beetles and not bugs. On the other hand, they aren’t birds either so I shouldn’t complain about this particular piece of American terminology.

The ladybirds kept landing on us in various places. One girl also at the overlook ran away into her car ‘cos she couldn’t stand the ladybirds crawling all over her. When we returned to our car to continue our journey, several ladybirds hitchhiked with us and were now crawling all over the inside of the car. In the back seat, we rescued those that we could.

We made another stop at Loft Mountain Wayside for a picnic in the splendid sunshine. We were continuing to benefit from what is somewhat unseasonable excellent weather. I can’t believe the luck we’ve had with the weather this year following almost six weeks mostly of sun in Spain.

After our picnic we completed the drive to the Rockfish Gap Entrance Station where we clambered onto the I64 to head head east back towards Richmond. The interstate is pretty much lined with trees on both sides all the way and these, at least, did put on a show of some autumn colours.

The Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden was another potentially interesting habitat that I spotted on Google maps. I saw that it had a couple of lakes/ponds and popped into iNaturalist to find that it had a number of dragonfly records. Botanic gardens are usually a good source and this looked like being no exception.

We allowed the day to warm up a little, to about 20°C, which it did by midday. Overnight temperatures have been hovering around 10°C. We are, of course, having to get used to American forecasts in good ol’ °F. I’m better (always have been) with °F at the warm end of the scale than at the cooler end. I know/remember that 70°F is quite pleasant but 48°F, for example, needs more thinking about. I once experienced Chicago at 0°F, which really needs some brain work… and avoiding.

After a 30-minute drive we arrived in a car park and were confronted by the “E. Claiborne Robins Visitors Center”,  which made me question whether we were actually in the correct place; nothing appeared to mention Lewis Ginter. All was well, this is where we should be and, on trust, we got old-wrinkly concession rates of $15 each (down from $20).

The botanical garden is, as one might expect in the US, very well presented. In front of you as you enter is a very imposing conservatory reminiscent of the glasshouses of Kew Gardens. To the right are the two lakes/ponds with well vegetated margins. Long story short: we walked around most of the water but I didn’t see a hint of any dragonflies.

What did hold my attention for a long time, was a flower bed with a large clump of “Cushion Mums” (so the label said) which Francine referred to as Asters (who am I to argue?). This dense patch of a food source was absolutely heaving with all manner of flying critters.

The largest of the feeding insects was a quite striking butterfly. For most of the time all I could catch was the underside showing while it moved about with mostly closed wings, frustrating little beasts that they are. Eventually, though, it positioned itself advantageously and I got the spectacular topside. Naturally this is quite a common butterfly around here, the Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia).

Also representing the Lepidoptera were a number of skipper butterflies. For these, since there are a number of confusing species and not having an American reference book, I will have to resort to iNaturalist for some identifications. Though I do have some ideas, I’ll need confirmation or correction from someone with local knowledge.

Naturally, hoverflies were well represented. Hoverflies are quite descriptively known as Flower flies in the United States. Again, these are going to require some local knowledge to sort out.

What I was completely captivated by and what I did manage to identify, Google lens pointing me in the right direction, was this endearing, colourful little moth; apparently one of the ermine moths, called the Ailanthus webworm (Atteva aurea). I have never seen the like of it before and what a great addition to my catalogue.

Given the extraordinary weather that we are enjoying – forecasters are talking about almost record temperatures for the season – I’m clearly a bit too late for any dragonflies, though there really should be some left if I could but find the right environment. Still, this fine collection from the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is very welcome indeed.

A first attempt at a brush with nature and a solo excursion. Our hostess had appointment with her doc mid afternoon so I had rooted around on iNaturalist looking for potential dragonfly sites in the vicinity.I found a park and recreation area called Deep Run about 20 minutes away by car..

We are drawing very close to the end of the flight season so options, if they existed at all, would be very limited but you never know. There had been a sighting of a darter, which is a late season genus so we set out with fingers crossed. If all else failed, it looked like a pleasant enough environment just for a wander.

The park has two modestly sized lakes. Each has a fountain in the middle, which is a less than great sign but there did appear to be some margins that could prove of interest.

We wandered around both lakes and found nothing. There didn’t even seem to be any other flying critters in the sunlit vegetation, which I thought strange.

There was a wooden observation deck with some sunny seating covered by a wooden roof and surrounded by some trees. Whilst there might have been no insects, it didn’t take long before birdlife came to my rescue. Some previous visitor had scattered seed along a wooden handrail beneath the trees and these were being visited by a chickadee (like our tits) and what was clearly some form of nuthatch.

It took me a while with the fast-moving nuthatch but I got a few shots on the handrail. It isn’t exactly a typical nuthatch pose, though, and every now and then it behaved more typically by hanging head-down on a tree trunk. Eventually I was happier. Without reference books, resorting to Google Lens (best avoided in the UK being America-centric), this proved to be a White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis).

The chickadee was more complicated, there being two very similar options: Black-capped Chickadee and Carolina Chickadee. There are very few places where their ranges overlap but, of course, this is one location where they do..My suspicion is that our suspect is most likely the Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) – it’s common in Virginia and has less white on the wings, allegedly.

I was a little surprised that the numerous Grey Squirrels – at least they are native here and not an invasive species – were not setting about vacuuming up the birdseed; they certainly would have been in the UK.

Wearing my trusty brimmed Tilley hat, any overhead vision is cut off by the brim but Francine spotted a whole load of what were obviously now uninhabited insect nests in the roof over our seating area. “They look like organ pipes”, she remarked. Obviously someone else had thought the same; these are the distinctive nesting tubes” of a wasp aptly called the Organ Pipe Mud Dauber (Trypoxylon politum).

Wandering further we found a sheltered hedgerow basking in the later afternoon sun. While I was trying to catch a difficult-to-identify black wasp-like insect (maybe an ichneumon of some kind), at long last a dragonfly turned up and flew back and forth along the hedge, sadly without settling. It was clearly one of what the Americans call a Darner, or Hawker in our terms, but I’ll never know which.

Nonetheless, I had a modest collection of additions to my catalogue, albeit not what I was primarily after.