Migrants Amongst the Masses.

At the moment I'm spending quite a lot of time looking for Willow Emeralds at likely looking areas within the county and it was for this reason that I braved the school holiday crowds over at Wicksteed Park. Once again I failed to find any of my targets but I will pop back again to give it another go.

Lake view.

A small selection of other dragons were seen with four species of damsel on view and three dragons. Commonest species around the lakes was Migrant Hawker, after a slowish start to their season they seem to be making up for it now. Large numbers of males were patrolling their territories and it was not unusual to see five or more tail chasing over the reeds. This species' habit of hovering in the same spot for seconds at a time meant that I actually managed a few flight shots, normally my camera doesn't like moving dragons but it can just about cope with Migrants.

Migrant Hawkers.

Butterflies were in rather short supply and Speckled Woods were the most numerous but even then less than ten individuals were involved. Perhaps the most interesting species was a Holly Blue, it seems to have been a good summer for this species.

Great Crested Grebes and Shoveller.

Not much of interest on the bird front with a Kingfisher being the best. A family party of Great Crested Grebes showed well and presumably what was the same Shoveller from my last visit was still here. Plenty of small birds moving through the park and these included several singing Willow Warblers