Busy Times Are Here!

I was up and out of the house this morning just after 4am where a few minutes later I arrived at Nethergong where I spent a few hours wandering around. With the site now full of campers, I try to do a few circuits of the site before most people wake up. It was generally pretty quiet on the bird front with a Barn Owl seen early on and a Kingfisher flew down the stream. It was nice to hear a Willow Warbler in partial song which I haven't heard hear this year. My first walk along the stream with the monopod brushing the reeds and grasses didn't provide any Willow Emerald Damselfly but as the weather warmed up and I tried a little later, I was able to see 23 Willow Emerald Damselfly making their maiden flight from the stream. While most flew straight to the trees, a few stopped in the grasses with one landing on some sort of Daisy which provided me with a few shots as she peered over them at me.

 

Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis)

 

A few more were in the grasses and I could not help myself as the camera once again come into action.

 

Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) - female

 

With a Brown Hawker also noted along with 2 newly emerged Migrant Hawker at the pond and a few Emerald Damselfly and Blue tailed Damselfly noted, I made my way home before the smell of bacon got to me. Around midday, I drove over to Oare Marshes for and hour and spent my time checking the areas around the East and West Floods for dragonflies. In particular it was very pleasing to see 7 Southern Migrant Hawker patrolling the ditches and it's great news that they have returned again this year. I took a few shots but none perched but with the summer holidays coming up for me in a few days time, I'm hoping to return on a few occasions to make the most of this most stunning dragonfly and see whether I can do it justice with the camera. Although a number of areas are overgrown for them now which is a bit worrying, there did seem to be a few areas where they can egg lay and keep the cycle going. Fingers crossed for some good weather hopefully and their numbers should build over the next few weeks.