The Lone Ranger!

Saturday saw me taking a few clients around Nethergong for the day and showing them the various species of dragonfly and damselfly that can be encountered there. The main targets were the Willow Emerald Damselflies which thankfully we saw in good numbers, some were watched making their maiden flights from the vegetation and we even found some exuviae from this species. A dip with the net produced a few Willow Emerald Damselfly nymphs which were new for the clients to see and study. Other highlights included c10 Small Red eyed Damselfly, 1 Norfolk Hawker, 2 Brown Hawker, 2 Emperor Dragonfly, c20 Emerald Damselfly, 2 Migrant Hawker, 1 Broad bodied Chaser, 2 Black tailed Skimmer, a few Banded Demoiselle and most interestingly... a male Southern Migrant Hawker on territory just over the road from the campsite. After my last post and feeling bad about losing all the Southern Migrant Hawker nymphs from the dried up pool, I definitely did not expect to see one this year here. I decided to take the clients and show them the habitat that Southern Migrant Hawkers like and was stunned when I found the male perched up. Where has this one come from, local? I can only think that in one of the fields there is a pool which also dries up in the summer but did have water in it later than the other one where the nymphs were. I did net in there but never caught any hawker nymphs. I can only think that this has emerged there. Does this mean there will be others? I returned this afternoon and initially couldn't find the hawker but checking another dried up area, I soon found the male Southern Migrant Hawker which stayed around for a while before vanishing. The mystery continues and I hope that a few more are seen there this year to give them a chance to try and slowly colonise again. I will no doubt be back very soon to monitor what is going on.  

Southern Migrant Hawker (Aeshna affinis) - male