Norfolk Hawkers

My brother and I went over to Paxton Pits in Cambridgeshire where, not for the first time this month, the weather was a bit on the iffy side. Dodging showers is becoming quite the thing these days and we were able to hone our skills once again though despite the damp interludes there was still enough sun around to make things interesting.

Variable and Azure Damselflies.

Paxton is an excellent place to see Variable Damselflies and I found lots of them today sheltering in the long grass and they outnumbered even the Azures. Other species were present in small numbers and included Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damselflies. At one point when it seemed as if grey skies were going to dominate I thought that we might miss out on the reserve's Norfolk Hawkers but gradually the sun began to peek through and things started to look a little more hopeful.

Blue-tailed and Common Blue Damselflies.

Hayling Lake with its Water Soldier plants is the preferred breeding spot for the Norfolks and I staked it out once the sun began to shine. After a while several Norfolk Hawkers showed distantly and for the second time in as many days I got a decidedly dodgy record shot of the day's main highlight. Only one other dragon was noted briefly and that was a probable teneral Four-spotted Chaser.

Today's awful record shot, Norfolk Hawker.

Sunny periods worked some magic on the local butterflies too and two Painted Ladies were my first of the year, Another likely migrant in the shape of a Red Admiral was found while a Small Tortoiseshell was likely to have come from a rather more local source. The two other species seen today were Brimstone and Speckled Wood.

Painted Lady and Red Admiral.

Few birds were noted apart from a couple of Cetti's Warblers though I did have good views of a Sparrowhawk.

Small Tortoiseshell and Brimstone.