Sediment Pollution

It had rained quite heavily last night. 

I had thought it would be a good day to visit the parks and ponds.  But the sight that greeted me on my first stop was terrible.  Never mind that the grasses have had a mud wash in the deluge of muddy water and is looking half-dead but the pond is a murky, earthy yellow from sediment pollution.  The siltation and turbid water is the result of development on the hills further upstream leading to soil erosion when there is heavy rain. And there has been quite some rain in recent weeks and last night.

It is very disheartening indeed.

I could count barely a score of dragonflies buzzing around.  It practically broke my heart.  I had spotted a few rare species here before.  What will happen to the eggs they have laid and to the larvae?

The sight of even the most common of species was such a gift this morning.

Urothemis signata

Crocothemis servilia

Orthetrum sabina

I do think this construction project here is the culprit for the pollution downstream.....

With the removal of  the protective vegetative covering on these soils, loose sediments have been washed into the stream with surface water runoff when there is heavy rain.

This will definitely have a serious and adverse impact on the ecology and water quality in these streams and ponds.  The sediment will choke fish, plants and other life in these ponds.  Not only that, the sediment particles will also absorb warmth from the sun and increase water temperature. 

At the rate things are going, it would be very difficult and probably take a long time for recovery if it does happen.  Eventually, what we may have left is a degraded habitat void of healthy biodiversity.

I did not stay very long and went to another spot where I could sit next to a clear flowing stream.  The sounds of the gurgling water eventually calmed me down and the few dragonflies that flitted about brought some joy to my heart.

Morning Rendezvous

Spent a few hours this morning being mesmerized by dragonflies and damselflies at a pond.  The whole scenery was alive with the buzzing of various dragonflies and damselflies such that I was totally enraptured!

As I watched, my heart went out to this Platylestes heterostylus as a Pseudagrion australasiae kept attacking it as it perched on a stem, chasing it away.  It took a while, and several perches later, before it found peace of mind and eventually began its morning stretching routine by flexing and swinging its abdomen in an aerobic workout.

This Pseudagrion australasiae is really quite a bully...

One of the Lestes praemorsus at the pond.  There were quite a number of them, all perched quite inconspicuously, minding their own business, each in its own world of daydreams.

I wonder what happened to that wing of this Neurothemis fulvia?  Looks as if it's been scorched.  Doesn't it make you wonder?

The Aethriamanta gracilis was rather flighty but finally managed to take a few photos.  Spotted several of them this morning.

Also spotted about five of these tiny yellow damselflies of the species Ceriagrion calamineum.

A contrast to the yellow damselfly above is this dashing red dragonfly, the Urothemis signata.

A number of these hovered near my feet.  These really tiny Agriocnemis femina could easily dart away and disappear from sight in a fraction of a second.

These damselflies sharing a twig.

And another favourite hangout on a twig with more than just one damselfly.

And then, there was also this bee that had me distracted for a bit.....

What a great morning indeed!

Finally!

After all these weeks, I did finally get out there and I have had a great field day... with dragonflies! 

And damselflies and a few other insects too.

There's so much to put down in writing and so many photos to share and talk about but it can't all happen at once.  So I'll have to start from the beginning and one at a time...

When I got to the first pond for the day, there were lots of dragonflies buzzing around over the water and as many dragonflies were perched on the grasses at the edge of the pond.  What a sight!

How I have missed them!

A lot of these dragonflies were of the Neurothemis spp, both N. fluctuans and N. fulvia, and they were most easily spotted due to their coloured wings.  And there were plenty of them!  There were also quite a number of red dragonflies around and a few of the other species too.

And it was both amusing and fascinating to watch the males of these species face off on their territorial fights.

It was a hot day and perhaps a bit too bright for photography.  Nevertheless, these are some of the pics I took today...

 

Neurothemis fulvia

 

Neurothemis fluctuans

 

Crocothemis servilia

 

Brachydiplax chalybea

 

Rhyothemis phyllis

 

Urothemis signata

 

And I would have to wait till another day and time to tell the next part of the story...

 

 

Libellulidae - Urothemis signata

Red! Red! Red!

I was not imagining things after all when I thought the one and only red dragonfly buzzing around among the many golden Crocothemis servilia was not the male of the same species.

And then I thought that perhaps it was the Rhodothemis rufa but it seemed somewhat different in the way it looked when it was buzzing around.

Once I got close enough to take a few photos and have a good look, I was quite elated when I realised it really is another species of red dragonfly.  What a surprising find!

 

 

This red dragonfly is the Urothemis signata of the family Libellulidae.  It has hindwing length of 35mm and its wings are more pointed, with very open venation and dark brown patch at the base, all of which are distinguishable features compared to other red dragonflies of similar size.

 

 

Although it was still quite early in the morning, this dragonfly was already getting into the obelisk stance.  I thought it was because the dragonfly should know better and that it was going to be another hot day.  As it turns out, this is a behaviour trait of this species and it is often found resting in bright sunlight, in the obelisk position.

Don't you just love all that red!