A Morning with the Migrants!

With the weather not looking too good for a visit to Thursley Common today with some rain forecast for the afternoon, I decided to stay local and make a visit to Reculver to see what birds were around. On arrival at 9.30am I was straight away distracted by some Migrant Hawkers in flight around the car park and walking to Coldharbour and back and checking the bushes revealed c20 Migrant Hawker. On the bird front it was very quiet, just 3 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Sparrowhawk, 2 Kestrel, 2 Swallow and 1 Little Egret were noted. As I walked back to the car park I checked the bushes again and only managed to find 1 Willow Emerald Damselfly. Normally they should be around in good numbers now but it does look like it may not be a good year for them, I will continue to monitor this site. After a drink and snack back at the car I drove over to a site inland of Reculver where I spent an hour photographing Migrant Hawkers. In the sheltered areas there were c30 flying around with many resting up just out of reach of the camera. A few however landed a little lower allowing me to grab a few shots of this species and study them at close range.

Female Migrant Hawker

I also checked here for Willow Emerald Damselfly, a good site for them but I failed to find any here at all. Other odonata noted here included 1 Brown Hawker, lots of Common Blue and Blue tailed Damselfly with a few Common and Ruddy Darter. The weather looks a little better at the moment for a trip to Thursley Common tomorrow although a little windy but with some good sun forecast at the moment. Hopefully if it all works out I can make that trip there in the morning.

Female Migrant Hawker