Wednesday 5 July 2017

The Norfolk Mating Game!

With the Norfolk Hawker season now at its peak and with a good number being seen in the Stour Valley, I made a visit to Grove Ferry last weekend to see how many I could see. One of my main reasons for the visit was that a Red footed Falcon had taken up residence temporarily at Grove Ferry and was munching his way through the hawkers so I wanted to access the number that were still managing to escape its talons. I have tended to do most of my watching at Westbere for this species but on arrival and making my way down to a particular area, a couple of Norfolk Hawker were seen in flight over the reedbeds. I soon arrived at the area where the Falcon had been present for a few days and spent the next hour or so walking up and down a well managed dyke that looks absolutely brilliant for the species to breed in. In the time that I was there, I saw at least 15 Norfolk Hawkers including 5 mating pairs and an egg laying female which provided me with a number of photo opportunities which I gladly took. Also seen were 1 Four spotted Chaser and a number of Emperor Dragonflies flying up the dykes and over the adjacent meadows. Weather permitting, I shall hopefully share my weekend time when I am out between looking for my first Willow Emerald Damselflies of the year and another look at Grove Ferry for the Norfolk Hawkers. 




Norfolk Hawker (mating pair) 



Norfolk Hawker (female) ovipositing 

6 comments:

  1. Beautiful mating game Marc, they must like each other.

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    1. Nice to see the spread of this species to continue. I wonder what species will be next?

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  2. Great news Marc and some fine shots. Good to see the spread continuing.

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    1. Many thanks Mike. Sure is nice to know that the spread is continuing well. Hopefully they will be a feature for years to come.

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  3. Thanks to your wonderful images, Marc, this species is coming to the top of my 'must see list' - such a spectacular dragonfly! It's the combination of those fabulous green eyes and the dark orange that does it.

    Just got to go and get a tissue to mop up the drool!

    Best wishes - - - Richard

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    1. Many thanks Richard. You will have to pencil in late June next year and I will show you them.

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