Saturday 12 June 2021

It's Norfolk Time!

Today was spent leading my second trip for 'Naturetrek' at Westbere Lakes and Grove Ferry in warm sunny conditions. The day started well at Westbere Lakes where we managed to see 12+ Scarce Chaser, 3 Black tailed Skimmer, 4 Norfolk Hawker, 10+ Hairy Dragonfly with a supporting cast of Banded Demoiselle, Variable, Azure, Common, Blue tailed and Red eyed Damselfly. I was quite proud of myself as despite the Norfolk Hawkers showing nicely in flight, my camera remained in my bag! We then took the drive over to Grove Ferry where after having lunch at the ramp, we wandered on down the various paths checking the ditches as we went. In now very warm conditions we managed to see 24 Norfolk Hawker, 1 Broad bodied Chaser, 3 Four spotted Chaser, 3 Emperor Dragonfly, 10+ Hairy Dragonfly, 5 Black tailed Skimmer and a few Variable, Azure, Blue tailed and Red eyed Damselfly. A search for exuviae was rewarded with 1 Hairy Dragonfly and 2 Norfolk Hawker exuviae found which were studied by the group. A few Norfolk Hawker were found with a few showing nicely perched which ended a superb days guiding in lovely company. 








Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) - male

I also managed another visit to Sandwich Bay where I was able to spend time with some of the record breaking 400+ Dainty Damselfly that were on site. Such an amazing spectacle and hard to know where to point the camera. There seemed to be mating pairs everywhere. Also seen were 27 Red veined Darter, 1 male Lesser Emperor, c10 Emperor Dragonfly and a few Four spotted Chaser. 












Dainty Damselfly (coenagrion scitulum) 



6 comments:

  1. Absolutely stunning the Norfolk Hawker and pictures of the hearts, lovely Marc.

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    1. Many thanks Bob. Nice to have good weather and plenty of subjects to point the camera at. Take care.

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  2. I see you made good use of the sunshine Marc while I do my best with the other end of the day. Stay safe.
    Mike.

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    1. Yes I did. Makes up for a rubbish May. Nice to be able to get out now and simply enjoy. You're not doing to bad yourself at the other other end of the day. Take care.

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  3. It's all very well you ribbing me about showing shots of Bullfinch on my blog, Marc, but you showing these fabulous shots of Norfolk Hawker is really rubbing it in, as I was supposed to be off on a four-day solo visit to Norfolk today, but had to cancel it yesterday as my health is a bit under the weather! Those Dainty Damselfly images are none to shabby either! Great stuff - keep up the good work - delighted that your second guided 'tour' went well too - best wishes - - - Richard

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    1. I'm sorry for rubbing it in Richard. Hope you are feeling better very soon. These are definitely one of the species I really look forward to seeing each year. Hopefully you will be able to see them soon although that might now be next year. Take care.

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