Norfolk Numbers Increasing

With the day to myself yesterday and sunshine forecast for most of the day, I decided to cycle over to Nethergong at 9am to spend a few hours before walking over to Grove Ferry to see what was about. The previous days walk around Nethergong for an hour had produced 4 Norfolk Hawker including a mating pair which looks good for the site and future of the species. This species has started to appear here more often in the past couple of years and I suspect that they use this site to mature and feed up before some then return back to Grove Ferry to breed. On arrival, the sun was shining nicely and as I started my walk, plenty of Azure and Blue tailed Damselflies were noted as were the first of 5 Broad bodied Chaser seen. As I scanned the frog pond, I picked out a couple of Four spotted Chaser and the first of 7 Hairy Dragonfly perched nearby with a Blue tailed Damselfly for breakfast. This allowed me to creep up and fire off a number of shots of this species before he flew off but soon returned to the same area to take in the warmth of the day.

 

 



Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) - male

 

Moving on around the site mid morning and by now, the sun was quite warm but little did I expect what I encountered next. On the eastern edge of the site in the sun I started to see the odd Norfolk Hawker patrolling and hawking above the ditches. I counted 4 at first and as I continued on to a sheltered sunny spot, there were up to 11 Norfolk Hawkers all in the air together having a feast on the flying midges. To see so many of this nationally rare dragonfly in one area was a sight to behold.

 

Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) - female

 

More was to come as when I left the site through a meadow, I flushed 4 more which brought my total for the site to at least 20 Norfolk Hawkers. What an amazing number to see at this superb area for wildlife. Through the meadow I also noted 3 Black tailed Skimmer and 3 Emperor Dragonfly. The walk to Grove Ferry is only about 10 minutes and I was soon on site and after having a good drink and something to eat, I set about seeing how many Norfolk Hawkers I could find. The wind had now got up which proved quite challenging but in a couple of hours, 1 managed to find at least 16 Norfolk Hawkers in the various ditches and dykes.

 

Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) - male

 

Also noted were 5 Hairy Dragonfly, 3 Four spotted Chaser, 2 Emperor Dragonfly and hundreds of Variable, Azure and Blue tailed Damselflies with lesser numbers of Red eyed Damselfly. With a good total seen, I then made my way back to Nethergong where walking back through the meadow produced at least 10 Norfolk Hawker flushed from the long grasses. It had been a very good day with at least 36 Norfolk Hawker noted between the two sites and no doubt, others missed but it looks good at least for the future of this species in the east of Kent.