Night time Norfolk Hawkers Emerging

I had spent a few evenings this week visiting Grove Ferry on the look out for dragonflies emerging and when checking a favoured ditch, I was somewhat surprised to see a number of exuviae where I had seen and collected a number of Norfolk Hawker exuviae a few weeks back. I though they had all emerged by now and indeed checking them, they were Norfolk Hawker exuviae which had me a little confused. Further checking of the area at dusk also produced a few nymphs clearly seen just below the surface meaning more were to emerge. On returning home, I looked at the 'Field Guide to the Larvae and Exuviae of British Dragonflies' by Steve Cham and read that there was a second wave of emerging by the Norfolk Hawker in mid/late June. All the exuviae I had seen were female which was quite interesting. With this in mind, I couldn't resist another chance of trying to photograph a Norfolk Hawker emerging and so Thursday night, I prepared all the equipment and made my way to the part of the ditch I had been watching. As I scanned the area, I could see a few more fresh exuviae from the night before and also a few nymphs just near the surface. Not wanting to spook them, I stayed well back and waited to after dark. After what seemed an age waiting with midges in full force, various noises heard and my senses on edge, I looked over at the reeds and could see a nymph climbing up and starting to thrash its thorax around (a sure sign its preparing to emerge). I put the tripod in position and settled in for what I hoped would be a successful emergence. I had a great clear view of the nymph as it was on an outer reed with the darkness of the dyke as a backdrop which provided a sense of the dragonfly emerging at night time. The next hour from about 11pm provided me with a superb spectacle of the emergence and plenty of opportunities to capture this on camera which I duly took advantage of.. Interestingly, the three I saw emerging were all females suggesting this second wave of emerging is predominately females which is quite interesting. With the time now just around midnight and the Norfolk Hawker fully emerged, I called it a night and made my way back hastily to the car and onwards home. A really rewarding evening again and despite the unsociable hours and a little scary at times, its nice to look back at the rewards which are priceless to me.

 

 

Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) - female emerging