St Helens Wildlife Recording Group - Black-tailed Skimmers

Black-tailed Skimmer on Bold Moss

On the evening of the 6th duly 2000, Ray Banks asked me if I would like to do some moth trapping on Bold Moss, as he had recently been granted permission to trap on this area. During the evening Ray mentioned that on the other side of the railway line that runs along the moss, there was apparently a large pool that had attracted wading birds in the past, but which he had not as yet seen for himself. Having recently completed my teacher training I was at a bit of a loose end so I said that I would go and look at it the following day.

The nights trapping went quite well with 57 species trapped including an Obscure Wainscot (a St Helens first). The next morning was nice and bright so at about lunchtime I decided I would go and look at this pond. I got onto the moss from Moss Nook Fishery and followed the path up onto the top of the hill. Next to the path was a small pond with a muddy margin with some exposed rocks. Straight away I noticed two blue dragonflies. One was obviously a male Broad-bodied Chaser, but the other looked different even though they were both flying around the pool. The unusual dragonfly soon landed on an exposed rock only about 8 feet from were I was standing. As it landed I noticed how narrow the body was in comparison to the Broad-bodied Chaser: also it had a black tip to the abdomen. I immediately suspected Black-tailed Skimmer, but having never seen the species before I phoned a friend who had seen the three Black-tailed Skimmers at Moore Nature Reserve about a week earlier. He described perfectly what I was watching. I had a feeling that this was a St Helens first but wasn’t 100% certain. I continued the walk and found the pond, which looks fantastic! Lets hope when the new Bold Housing Estate is completed it still looks as fantastic.

When I got home at about 4pm I referred to the checklist of Butterflies, Dragonflies and Moths of St Helens, which Ray Banks has produced: there was no entry for Black-tailed Skimmer. Presuming that Ray would not yet be home from work, I quickly phoned the news into Rare Bird Alert (a paging company that specialises in news on the occurrences of rare species in Britain). I knew that Ray had opted for the wildlife channel which gives news on mammals and insects and therefore he would hear about the Skimmer almost immediately. About ten minutes later the phone rang, it was Ray, and we quickly arranged to meet and I would show him the pool on which I had seen the Skimmer. The wind had got up by this stage and we were not over confident in seeing the Skimmer. Luckily Ray quickly found it as it flew once along the edge of the pool and out of sight. Despite further searching that evening we could not re-find the Skimmer. Thankfully this time, someone else had seen this first for St. Helens!

Since this initial sighting, two males were found by Ray on different pools on 21st July 2000. and the following day, two males and two females were seen by Ray and Colin Davies. Both of the females were seen coupled and ovipositing. This species likes small ponds with exposed marginal areas with bare soil or stones and rocks. It can also be found on lakes and slow rivers. A fast low flying species that is often seen perched on open ground, muddy banks or stones. While feeding they return repeatedly to the same perch.