Just Sometimes...

As mentioned in my last post, I have been able in this lovely warm sunny weather to fit in a few sessions after work at Grove Ferry where my main targets have been the Norfolk Hawkers. On Tuesday I was again walking around Grove Ferry where in an hour or so  I was able to find up to 28 Norfolk Hawker patrolling up and down various dykes. What was encouraging was seeing quite a few females away from water flying over the meadows which is encouraging for the future of this species in east Kent. I took my normal set of photos when the chance arose but it was one area in particular with fresh green reeds present and an obliging male Norfolk Hawker that kept me busy. As the title suggests, every now and then you find an individual in good condition that shows beautifully giving me the chance to take a number of photos from various angles. I was able to just sit back and watch as he flew up and down the ditch, returning to the same patch of reeds and landing for some time before going off on patrol again. I'm often guilty of trying to cover too much area during a session looking for a shot so to just sit back and enjoy this stunning species up close was a pleasure. It won't be to long until they start to look quite worn and then dwindle in numbers slowly so I made sure I got my fill of one of my favourite species. It seems to have been a successful season so far for them in east Kent and with numbers now starting to appear at other locations in southern England, it seems that the Norfolk Hawker is here to stay and for others to enjoy. I'm sure I will be back again soon to see them but I feel this set of photos is about as good as I can get showing off this species to its best.

 

 

Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) - male

 



Green Eyed Beauties

Although we have been blessed with some lovely sunshine in the past few weeks, it seems that most of my sessions have been hampered with some quite breezy winds. This has proved quite a challenge when trying to photograph Norfolk Hawkers in flight and as of yet, most of my attempts this year have been disappointing to say the least. I made another attempt yesterday afternoon and again, the winds were blowing quite strong on arrival which meant that any attempts at photographing flight shots were soon dashed. The particular ditch I like to photograph flight shots from is rather open but with vegetation quite low, there are ample opportunities to search for likely targets but with the wind howling through, I decided to search in some of the other more vegetated areas where it would be more sheltered. In a few hours searching I managed to find 13 Norfolk Hawker which included a mating pair seen in flight and an ovipositing female which I managed to get a few shots of through peering through the reeds. The camera was thankfully kept busy and I managed to take a number of pleasing shots of this species which I just can't get enough of. With their season well under way, a few are already showing signs of wear and tear but a few pristine individuals are still to be found. I also managed to see a few Black tailed Skimmer, Four spotted Chaser and Emperor Dragonfly too. With some hot weather and lighter winds this week, I'm hopeful of a few after work visits to see whether I can at last capture a few pleasing flight shots of a Norfolk Hawker before their time is up. Fingers crossed that my perseverance might pay off.

 

Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) - ovipositing female

 

Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) - male

 



Emerging Emperor Dragonfly

In the past few days at my garden pond in the evenings, I have become aware of a few Emperor Dragonfly nymphs starting to appear in the shallows with the back of their heads out of the water, a sure sign that they are preparing to emerge soon. With a mild night last night with light winds, I felt quite confident that at least one of them might try to emerge so around 21:30, I made my usual trip out to the pond to check and found one of the nymphs well out of the water on a reed. I was soon getting all the equipment ready for a session like this which included camera, tripod, flash diffuser, beanbag and a nice blanket to lay on. I was hoping that soon after that the Emperor would start to emerge but it wasn't until 23:15 that the nymph started to climb higher up the reed and chose its spot from which to emerge. Next was the familiar thrashing of the abdomen to check for any obstructions when emerging followed by a few minutes of stillness as the nymph skin clearly started to show signs of drying out. While this is happening I am watching from a safe distance as to not disturb the nymph as it makes its final preparations before finally moving in slowly and laying down at the pond to start photographing. At 23:26 the nymph started to emerge and this signalled the start of nearly ninety minutes of studying and photographing the stages of emergence. It never ceases to amaze me as the beastly nymph transforms into a winged wonder of nature. Thankfully all went well and just before 1am, the Emperor Dragonfly nymph was fully emerged with its wings pumped up and this was my signal to head to bed after a successful nights work. I would suspect soon after that the Emperor would have made a short flight to the nearest trees for safety where he will mature up before moving on to look to breed. A quick look this morning before work saw no Emperor at the pond and hopefully all went well for the maiden flight. Despite being a little tired this morning, it's always a pleasure to witness one of nature's often unseen miracles in action.

 

Emperor Dragonfly (Anax imperator) - Emerging male

 

 



Early Emeralds

Whilst at the pond at Nethergong over the weekend I was surprised to see a few early Emerald Damselfly in the long grasses which had obviously recently emerged from the pond. I also netted an Emerald Damselfly nymph which confirms that they are breeding in this pond, the first time I have seen them breeding in this area of the site. With the sun still hiding behind the trees but not long off shining on the grasses, I decided to set up the tripod and take a few images of the Emerald Damselfly. The damselfly was resting nicely on some Lavender and by the time I had the camera ready, the sun was just about shining on the area which showed off the damselfly nicely. I spent quite a while taking a number of images from different angles, hoping that it would not fly off but she seemed quite content resting. With a number of photos taken and with the sun warming up the area, she finally flew off over the water. It would seem that at this site, the Emerald Damselfly has emerged nearly 2 weeks earlier than normal and this makes me wonder whether the Willow Emerald Damselfly will also emerge earlier at this site. I normally expect to see my first during the second week of July so it will be interesting to see what happens next month.

 

Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa) - female