Autumn Stars

The last couple of days have seen a considerable drop in temperature during the days and nights and with rain and winds featuring quite highly, it's seems the days of sunshine, mild temperatures and light winds are a distant memory. With some sunshine forecast for around midday yesterday (Saturday), I decided on a later arrival to Nethergong where I spent a couple of hours walking around the site looking for what species could be found. On arrival, it was still quite cloudy with only the odd sign of sun coming through but a few patches of warmth provided a few Common Darters with a perch to take in the heat. Eventually having walked around with not much seen, the clouds did break and the sun made an appearance which led to an immediate response from the dragonflies. The next hour searching saw 17 Willow Emerald Damselfly, 22 Common Darter and 5 Migrant Hawker being seen and some time was briefly spent photographing a Willow Emerald Damselfly which I shall post in due coarse. The star of the session was when I found a male Migrant Hawker perched up which then provided me with some time studying and photographing this beauty. With rain earlier in the day, the Hawker still looked like its wings hadn't quite dried out completely. Autumn does provide some fantastic colours and this male really stood out well from the surroundings which made for some nice photo opportunities. After working from different angles and the sun now getting warmer, the wings started to vibrate and it wasn't long until he took off and started to patrol. I'm not sure if I will get another go at photographing this species this year but if not, I think this set is probably one of my better attempts with the species. With a week off work now and the forecast looking better as the week goes on, I hope to return to once again take in what enjoyment this season has and maybe, a photo or two will come my way.

 

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) - male