With nice weather continuing up until a few days ago, I have had a few brief visits to Nethergong at various parts of the day to see what dragonflies and damselflies are on the wing and what number. An early morning visit in the week at 9am where I spent my time walking around the magic meadow looking for roosting dragonflies produced a nice showy male Hairy Dragonfly which posed for a few photos as it roosted in the brambles and about 2 metres away, a female Norfolk Hawker in the same bramble bush also saw me firing off yet more shots of this species which I just can't say no too.
Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) - male
There were also a few Azure and Blue tailed Damselfly on the wing. The next day I arrived mid afternoon where along with 15 Red Kite overhead, I managed to see up to 6 Norfolk Hawker patrolling the ditches around the perimeter of the campsite. Whilst I have not been able to prove breeding yet, I would be surprised if they are not already breeding at the site but getting near to the waters edge to check for exuviae is a challenge at the moment due to the reeds and steep banks. There were plenty of Azure and Blue tailed Damselfly on the wing and a few Banded Demoiselle were seen flying up and down the ditches too. A quick walk around the frog pond produced a couple of Common Darter exuviae, hopefully I can get a few chances with the camera with this species emerging here this year. It's only about a month until or so until the Willow Emerald Damselflies start to emerge and with record numbers seen last year (nearly 400 in one day), i'm hopeful of an excellent season with one of my favourite species.
Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) - female
Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) - male
Superb dragonflies images Marc
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Bob. Certainly enjoyable trying to capture the details and colours of these fascinating insects.
DeleteExcellent pictures Marc. Glad you are enjoying yourself. Stay safe. Mike.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Mike. Back to work next week so the enjoyment is probably back to weekends. Just got to hope it's dry, sunny and warm.
DeleteBrilliant work, as always, Marc. You seem to be able to find huge numbers of odonata in your area, with some very enviable species close to hand too.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that I'll get to see Willow Emerald again this year, but it will probably require a 50 mile drive each way, and I'm not sure what the social distancing situation will be if I get there. There wil be no Norfolks for me this year, but at least I managed a (very distant) Hairy this week! It's rarely that I find a Hairy on a good year in these parts.
Take good care and stay safe - - - Richard
Many thanks Richard. I am very lucky where I live with the variety of species I can get to, all within a 10 minute drive really. Well done with the Hairy and fingers crossed for you that you can go and see the Willows this year. Other than the travel, I'm sure you wouldn't regret it. Take care.
DeleteMany thanks Agnieszka. Much appreciated.
ReplyDelete