Today I left the garden behind for a good, hard tromp through the autumn countryside. But as always I couldn't help but learn little lessons to take back to the garden.
And this is one that got me thinking most - Common Darters. There weren't many about - perhaps the wind was a bit too bracing. But in sheltered corners and up against sunny woodland edges I found them sunning themselves on prime vantage points.
This is probably the commonest and most widespread autumn dragonfly, found in most cities as well as the countryside. The main emergence time is August and September, with extra migrants arriving during early autumn from the continent.
They are barely the length of your little finger and much slimmer. The mature males are red; the females more an amber darkening to brown as they age. And what is amazing about them is that they are able to keep going in temperatures down to about 12 degrees Centigrade, far lower than most dragonflies. It means that in a mild year, they can sometimes keep going into November.
But a cold dragonfly needs to find what heat it can, and they enjoy perching up on sunny fenceposts and even paths. Once ready to mate, they head back to ponds and canals to find a mate.
But for such a common dragonfly, I never get it at my pond. And I'd quite like to. So what am I doing wrong?
Well, my pond is certainly large enough - Common Darters are happy with even a modest-sized garden pond. And I have good amounts of aquatic vegetation on offer for them to lay their eggs . But I think the thing is that from about September onwards, less and less sun reaches my pond's surface, due to the height of the trees in gardens to the south of me.
Now I could always speak to the neighbours and try and arrange a bit of a tree surgeon session. But this is always the rub with wildlife gardening, isn't it? Make my garden more suitable for Common Darters and I might make my neighbourhood less good for the wildlife that uses those trees. Balance and compromise - it's a good job I'm Libran ;-)
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw
I also had problem with Ash, we let one in the hedge get big enough to seed, and all the seeds flew into the neighbour's rockery across the road! But like your area Ash is very common here so getting the saw out didn't fill me with guilt!