The Autumn Hawker

With the last few days delivering some warm morning sunshine, I have had a few more visits to Nethergong where other than the Willow Emerald Damselflies which seem to always get my attention, I have found myself trying to photograph the Migrant Hawker. Time spent walking up and down the ditches have seen a number of males patrolling and this has provided me with some excellent photographic opportunities. However, they are patrolling for one reason only and that is in the hope a female will pass by and they can then grab her and mate. With this in mind and some flight shots already in the bag, I sat for a while hoping that a female would pass and then I could photograph them in the mating wheel. As the temperature warmed up, I did see a few pairs in tandem but they either flew too high up in the trees or landed in the reeds on the other side of the ditches out of reach of the camera. I knew if I was patient that my chance would come and eventually a female was grabbed as she flew by and the pair landed quite low down on a branch. With some stalking which seemed to last an age, I was soon near enough and had a nice view of the mating pair and a bonus that they were clutter free.

Migrant Hawkers (mating pair)

I rattled off a number of shots before moving off to let them carry on with nature. In the next hour, I found a few more mating pairs where I was able to take a number of pleasing images and also a few males perching up which provided yet more photo opportunities.

Migrant Hawkers (mating pair)

As always when I am out, I make the time to put the camera down at some point and just sit and study them. This often provides a number of questions: Why are they that colour? What are the markings like that? etc etc. There is still much to learn personally but I continue to enjoy the challenges that appear in front of me and its always a bonus too to leave with a few photos taken. 

Migrant Hawker (male)