An afternoon beside a pool.

 We are lucky in Warwick to have a number of fantastic open spaces that contain a variety of different habitats and wildlife. Priory Park is parkland and woodland, the Racecourse is flat grassland with patches of wet patches and St Nicholas Park, although a municipal park aside from the large playing field it has a river, fishing lake and dipping pool.

Alongside Kingfisher pool is a small pond that was recently dredged and cleared. King Henry pool has now recovered and is a flourishing ecosystem with abundant emergent vegetation. At this time of the year it is a magnet for dragonflies and damselflies, they zip around hunting over the water and gently lay their eggs in the vegetation.

Focusing on just the small pool I was lucky enough to see several species. The most obvious were the ubiquitous Banded Demoiselles whose numbers are just starting to ebb. Of the larger species there were a couple of Emperor dragonflies. A male patrolled up and down in a set predictable pattern hawking for insects it would take and devour on the wing whilst a female flitted from area to area ovipositing. She dips the tip of her abdomen in to the water and injects the eggs on to a reed.

Female Emperor ovipositing

Several blue Black-tailed Skimmers were present and a single Four-spotted Chaser.

Four-spotted Chaser

The most abundant however of all the species were the small damselflies, hunting and mating. I only identified two species, Blue-tailed Damselflies and Azure Damselflies. Both are most active at this time of year.

Male and Female Azure Damselfly mating

In a small open patch of water were a mass of Whirligig beetles. These energetic water beetles were whizzing around on the surface like nobodies business. These amazing beetles spin around on the surface. It has a latin name that reflects its nature, Gyrinus substriatus, from the root of gyrate, which these beetles really do.

As if this wasn't enough i was lucky enough to spot a small pike. It couldn't have been more than 10-15cms long. It moved with effortless grace and came incredibly close. I was able to watch it as it stalked various tiny fish. Normally when I watch the large pike on my patch they tend to sit on the bottom and then pounce up. This young jack however patrolled at the surface and struck horizontally.

Young Pike

Of course there were also the birds, Swifts dipped down to feed across the lake and Chiffchaffs sung from the willows, there was also a Jay. 

It just goes to show how much life can exist in such a small space. Of all the species present during my hours visit I barely scratched the surface, a life time could be spent catalogue everything there and I already have that task to accomplish on my patch.