Tuesday 31 May 2022

Ladies Day!

With most of May dominated by the excellent birding to be had in Kent, I haven't been able to give the dragonflies the time they deserve of late. However, a few visits to Nethergong and Westbere in the past couple of weeks did produce a few Hairy Dragonfly, 4 Norfolk Hawker, 1 immature Black tailed Skimmer, 1 Emperor Dragonfly, c10 Scarce Chaser and good numbers of Variable, Azure, Blue tailed Damselfly with lesser numbers of Banded Demoiselle, Large Red and Red eyed Damselfly. Hopefully I can make a few visits out in the next couple of weeks before my dragonfly tours start with 'Naturetrek' (places still available) to get in some photography and enjoy the season. On another note, I had a dipping session a few weeks ago in the pool where I had watched Southern Migrant Hawkers ovipositing last year but despite a good try, I only managed to find c40 Migrant Hawker nymphs but some sad news in that I returned to the pool a few days ago and it had completely dried up and no nymphs to be found. It will be interesting therefore whether any Southern Migrant Hawkers appear there this year or perhaps they egg-layed somewhere else. 








Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) - female






Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) - female


6 comments:

  1. Fantastic images on the Hairy Dragonfly, and the Norfolk Hawker, thanks Marc.

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    1. Many thanks Bob, much appreciated. Take care.

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  2. Magnificent Marc, I wish I could get pictures of my animals as good as that. Take care.
    Mike

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    1. Thanks Mike... and I'm sure you can. Just get out there and get clicking. Trust me, you don't want to seevsome of mine. Take care.

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  3. Sad news about that pond where the Southern Migrant Hawkers had been, Marc. Those are beautiful images of the the Hairy Dragonfly and Norfolk Hawker. Looks like my 3-day vist to Norfolk in nine days time is probably stuffed with me testing positive for Covid this morning. Best wishes - stay safe - - - Richard

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    1. I live in hope that they may emerge from elsewhere but only time will tell. I'm very sorry to hear you have covid and your trip is likely to be cancelled. Perhaps you could fit it in if you test regularly. With the birding being very good of late, I really do need to do some dragonflying more. Had a few outings, back to work next week so fingers crossed the weekend weather is on my side. Take care.

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