Flight Challenge Starts!

The weather forecast was not looking that good for an after work visit today and I had intended to go to Westbere and spend an hour or so looking for the elusive Norfolk Hawker exuviae. However, as can often be the case, the weather got it slightly wrong as at 4pm, it was quite sunny and warm although a little breezy. I drove the minute or so from work to Westbere Lakes and walked up to the dykes near the river. I nearly left the camera at home as the forecast didn't look that good but thankfully I put it in the car this morning, just in case. I spent a while walking up and down the dykes and found 3 Norfolk Hawker, 2 males and an ovipositing female. I sat down on the bank near one male and after flying around a bit, he decided to land in the middle of the dyke on a reed. I already had the Canon f4 300mm lens on and took a number of shots as it was quite close to me. This individual would have been close enough for the Sigma 150mm macro but I didn't want to run the risk of changing lenses and it flying off. As it happens, this is probably one of my better Norfolk Hawker shots I have taken for a while. Whilst sat down, the male would occasionally fly up and down the dyke and this gave me the chance to try a few flight shots. Although a little windy, it would sometimes pause in flight and if I was quick enough which most of the time I wasn't, I would literally get a second to fire off a few shots. I ended up with a few usable images, nowhere near the angles and quality I hope to obtain but I am going to have to hope I can find an individual that likes to pause in flight for a while. I shall keep trying and I suppose it wasn't a bad start. Also noted today were 1 Scarce Chaser, 2 Black tailed Skimmer and 2 Hairy Dragonflies. Not the greatest forecast for the weekend, hopefully out tomorrow looking for dragonflies or exuviae's depending on the weather situation. 

Norfolk Hawker (male)