My internet has been misbehaving over the weekend so I'm having to play catch up with blog posts. On Saturday Phil Rogers joined my brother David and I on a trip down to the ditch at Canvey Island. This site has become quite famous in dragonfly circles of late as it now supports a couple of scarce or rare species. Phil and I have enjoyed rather mixed fortunes here in the past but today's visit delivered the goods.
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| An alternative name for SMH is Blue-eyed Hawker, wonder why? |
Lovely weather greeted us on our arrival though if anything it was a little too warm for my tastes! Canvey doesn't look as if it has had much rain of late and the ditch is all but dry. Despite this we found our first Southern Migrant Hawkers within minutes of beginning our walk. A succession of males were patrolling up and down the dried ditch and the occasional individual landed. David picked out a pair in cop which allowed both Phil and I the chance to get more pictures. Whilst walking along the ditch I saw a couple of other pairs but these didn't hang around long enough to study.
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| Scarce Emeralds |
Our second target species was Scarce Emerald which is as its name implies a rather rare damsel. Although a lot of males in particular were seen they seemed reluctant to settle for more than a second. Time and time again I raised my camera in time to see the potential target fly off! Eventually a few did linger and I was able to get a few shots. Several pairs in cop were also noted though none posed for pics.
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| Brown Argus |
While there were few other odes on view apart from Common and Ruddy Darter there were quite a few butterflies on the wing. Highlight for me was a year first Brown Argus, most of the other species were the usual browns.
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