A taste of the north...

I was feeling a bit down this morning, so Pete and I decided to go to Holme Fen, one of the only places locally with acid birch woodland and glades of flowering heather, which smelt so sweet in the morning sun. It's also about the best place to watch hordes of dragonflies foraging along the rides. Inbetween their hunting forays they perch on suitable vantage points, watching carefully for rivals which they chase off in spectacular aerial dogfights. This is one of the many common darters - when I visited Castor Hanglands earlier in the week they were amost all ruddy darters.