Empress?

After our mammoth survey session, I was feeling a little jaded this morning, but nevertheless had to get my act together for a meeting at Orton Pit, to discuss a forthcoming project. Unfortunately the road accessing the reserve was closed, and the diversion signs were misleading, so it took us a while to find our way there. Hampton is a new township, with a road system that defies logic, and in the end Pete had to use his mobile phone.

After a very tasty lunch, I took Pete to Swaddywell Pit, as he needed to change his traps and wanted to try and catch some extra solitary bees and wasps before their season is over. I had a pleasant time pottering round with my camera, the first time that I've been able to do that for a while. 

Once again it was hot but very windy, which rather restricted the opportunities for macro photography. But there were a few dragonflies around, and I was excited to see some Small Red-eyed Damselflies on the pond (see extra).  This is a recent colonist (first records 1999) and has spread spectacularly through southeast England and the Isle of Wight in the years immediately following its first appearances. It has now reached Devon in the west and North Yorkshire in the north, but expansion has slowed.


There were also Black-tailed Skimmers and Emperor dragonflies battling for possession of the pond. At least two female Emperors were egg-laying, and I was able to get a few shots of this using the telephoto lens. But this one was so preoccupied that she allowed me to get within a few centimetres of her , giving the unusual opportunity for a detailed macro of her face.