Odonata at Carr Vale in the past week. The past week has been excellent for studying dragonflies and damselflies in the recording area but sad to say not on the reserve pools due to the presence of quite a number of monster Carp that are present in the reserves pools. I make no apology for banging on about these fish because when you compare the Odonata sightings from the reserve with those from the council run Peter Fidler Reserve you'll realise that our reserve is incredibly poor for these insects. To prove the point following on from the discovery of four Common Hawkers on the top pond on Peter Fidler (third record for the recording area) this weeks great find was Small Red-eyed Damsel. Two males were found on 6th August on the northern lower pool on Peter Fidler. This prompted a more determined surveying of the two lower pools the following day which produced a total of 23 insects including four ovipositing pairs, two on each pool. To put this sighting into perspective this is only the second year that this species has been recorded at Carr Vale, the first time was in 2008 when a maximum of seven males and two females were seen. This was the first time that they had been recorded in north-east Derbyshire and at that time the species was only known from three sites in the south of the county where it was first discovered in 2006. The low water levels in the ponds clearly suit this species again this year and this years total is a massive increase over the last time they were here. Also on the Peter Fidler part of the recording area this week up to 16 Brown Hawkers, one or two Migrant Hawkers, a Southern Hawker, two Emperors, four male Ruddy Darters (this species was only rediscovered last year following a ten year absence and I think four is a record count for this species), a few Common Darters, a few Emerald and Blue-tailed Damsels, a couple of late Azure Damsels, a late Large Red-eyed Damsels and still plenty of Common Blue Damsels. And now to the dragonfly records on the reserve ponds I think I've seen one Emerald Damsel and the odd Common Darter.