Hawking.

A spell of sunshine persuaded me to head over to the pond at Eurohub where I had a look for Willow Emeralds. My foray met with the customary lack of success in that my walk was entirely emerald free but thankfully it was not a total waste of time.

Fairly ropey shot of Brown Hawker.

As well as loads of floating rubbish there were three species of hawker on the wing. A Brown Hawker was ovipositing on the other side of the pool from me so my photographic efforts were mediocre at best. Another Brown Hawker made a brief visit before heading off over the trees. Several male Migrant Hawkers were patrolling the muddy and reedy margins presumably in search of females. A whirring of wings alerted me to the presence of a female furtively ovipositing around the bases of some reeds and her caution was entirely justified. A second female going about her business was spotted by one of the males who proceeded to swoop down and basically abduct her, I stumbled across what was presumably this same pair a little later but they made good their escape before I could get a decent view.

Two views of ovipositing Migrant Hawker.

Southern Hawkers seem to have had a rather poor year and I seldom see more than one or two per day. No change today either but at least I did manage to photograph one albeit after a male had given me a bit of a run-around. Having failed to get any usable flight shots (I managed many blue and green blurs) I was lucky in that a male decided to land. Although he didn't stay still for long it was long enough for me to get a shot or two.

Southern Hawker.

Not much other wildlife on view today apart from a Grey Heron that disappeared as soon as I appeared on site, clearly a good judge of character!