Thursday 8 August 2019

An Hour Well spent

After birding yesterday morning (Wednesday) at Reculver, I decided to spend the last hour of my time out at Nethergong. I arrived around 9:30am where although nice and sunny, it was quite breezy but there were enough sheltered spots where activity was noted. In an hours walk around the Eastern part of the site, I managed to see 103 Willow Emerald Damselfly, 2 Southern Hawker, 6 Migrant Hawker, a few Emerald Damselfly and a good number of Common and Ruddy Darter. In a few sheltered areas, there were up to 20 Willow Emerald Damselflies resting quite close to each other providing a nice sight but not having the macro lens on my today, I decided another visit will happen soon to capture these lovely damselflies. Nearby was a resting male Southern Hawker and despite not the best of chosen perches for photographs, I couldn't resist taking a few of this beautifully coloured dragonfly. Nearby in another sheltered but sunny glade, there were a few Migrant Hawkers flying up and down and occasionally perching quite low down. After a bit of stalking, I was then able to get into a few positions where they were flying in and landing and rattled off a number of pleasing images. I had only been on sight an hour but in that time, had seen a good variety of dragonflies and damselflies, and managed a few shots too. I'm sure that a few visits will happen in the next couple of weeks where my attention will be no doubt be spent studying and photographing the Willow Emerald Damselflies and trying to improve on shots from previous years. The season has more to offer yet I hope.
 



Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea) - male
 

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) - male
 


Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) immature male
 
 


6 comments:

  1. Absolutely stunning the Migrant Hawker, well done Marc.

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    1. Many thanks Bob. A sure sign that Autumn is around the corner when they start being on the wing.

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  2. Love this post,outstanding photography Marc.

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    1. Many thanks. Part of the fun is trying to capture the different species against a clear background. Sometimes it works but more often, it's cluttered. I shall keep trying.

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  3. Seeing your wonderful dragon images is not doing my frustration levels any good at all, Marc! I think I'm going to have to ask Mrs P. to take me out to somewhere where I can just sit and observe, although I'm hard-pushed to think of anywhere which doesn't require a significant amount of walking.

    Keep up the good work. My very best wishes - - - Richard

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    1. Many thanks Richard. I realise I'm probably not doing you much good but hope they are kind of helping with your recovery process. Hopefully you will be back out soon.

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