Saturday 8 August 2015

An off patch day today had me visiting Thursley Common with Marc Heath ( see his superb blog here)


Thursley Common


Dragon Habitat At Thursley

We spent 7 hours in glorious weather chasing down Dragonflies, of which we found 16 species, two of those being new to me, the Black Darter and the Common Hawker, although the latter only gave flight views, the former were seen in good numbers, giving lots of photo opportunities.

Marc pointed out this Common Darter just emerging within minutes of our arrival


Newly emerged Common Darter


I took another photo half an hour later, when it had pumped up its abdomen
 
 
Small Red Damselflies were well represented


But there were even more Black Darters about, a lifer species for me  :-)





Keeled Skimmers were probably the most numerous species seen on our visit


This Southern Hawker was the only one we recorded today


A Grayling Butterfly was a butterfly first for me, but it proved difficult to photograph

In all it was a thoroughly enjoyable outing, my thanks go to Marc, for driving, in some very warm and sticky conditions   :-)  I'll post more images from Thursley on future posts.

6 comments:

Marc Heath said...

A superb day indeed Warren. Thanks for the company and some cracking shots you got today. Those male Black Darters are excellent.

Warren Baker said...

Hi Marc,
Yep, I enjoyed today. Lots more images to post up!

Marianne said...

Wow, what a day! Can I come next time?! Stunning shots of the Thursley specials :)

Warren Baker said...

Of course you can come Marianne!!

Pete Woodruff said...

Catching up with your blog Warren. In good company then with Marc today.

I like the Grayling image which you say was difficult to photograph, rarely - if ever - have their wings open once stationary.

Warren Baker said...

It was a fantastic awayday for me Pete. :-)