Dragonfly

 Before starting on today's narrative, it's impossible to generate a pun or other whimsical link to the musical reference in today's blog heading. Dragonfly is a song by Fleetwood Mac from 1971 after Peter Green left, although the lyrics are actually from a poem by WH Davies.

And when the roses are half-bud soft flowers

And lovely as the king of flies has come

It was a fleeting visit, all too brief

In three short minutes, he had been and gone

He rested there upon an apple leaf

A gorgeous opal crown sat on his head

Although the garden is a lovely place

Was it worthy of so fine a guest?

 A good dragonfly morning with both Common and Ruddy Darters seen within 10 mins of each other, followed by lots of Migrant Hawkers and a couple of Brown Hawkers.

 Coincidentally one of the Common Darters perched on a twig in just the same way that a Ruddy Darter did the other day, allowing a ready comparison to be made...

female Common Darter

female Ruddy Darter

Female Ruddy Darter has all black legs and black markings along the abdomen, compare these features with the female Common Darter.

I got a decent image of Brown Hawker today.

male Brown Hawker

There were dozens of Migrant Hawkers flying all over the shop and although I have several perfectly acceptable photos of this dragonfly I had to take some more, given they were almost queueing up to pose.

male Migrant Hawker

Did you know?

Dragonflies and damselflies can beat their wings independently, giving them amazing manoeverability when hunting or avoiding predators.

I also thought I'd got my first Essex Skipper at the Mere today but Mark showed me the error of my ways and it was indeed just a female Small Skipper. 

female Small Skipper

I put the photo into a new app I'm trying out this evening and it said Essex Skipper with 97% confidence. Just shows that 3% is the difference between being an expert with a pair of eyes and a brain and just some crappy software. 

I reckoned that black antennae on a Small Skipper-like butterfly would equal an Essex Skipper, given other id features were barely distinguishable. However what I didn't know is that Small Skipper antennae lose their brown colour with age (thanks again Mark). Anyway it's only the ends of the antenna that are jet black in Essex, not the whole of them. The ends of the antenna were more club like than pointed to my eyes in the field, but looking now they are indeed more pointed than clubbed. So, female Small Skipper and the hunt goes on for Essex at the Mere for me.

A moth-shaped object on an oak leaf attracted my attention. I don't really do moths so I had to check up on this one.

Dingy Footman

Several Painted Ladies were about looking fine and fresh. This one stayed for ages allowing me to lay down and get closer photos.

Painted Lady