R and I decided to brighten an otherwise dull day by going out for lunch in Stratford, which was fun. Afterwards I took my camera and went to the river, but I was frustrated in my search for dragonflies: there was at least one Brown Hawker at Lucy’s Mill, plus a couple of Migrant Hawkers, but they were patrolling a large reed bed to the west of the road bridge, which is a long way from the path and isn’t overlooked by any good vantage points. Every now and then one or other of them would whizz past me with no warning and then disappear again, at such speed that I didn’t even manage any record shots.
Over the past ten days the number of Banded Demoiselles at this site has plummeted, and it’s obvious that their season is coming to an end. During the space of nearly an hour I only saw two, distantly, and with our parking session running out fast I was beginning to despair that I’d get anything at all on camera. Right at the last gasp of my available time, desperation led me to step down off the path into a deep bed of nettles, convolvulus and rosebay willowherb next to the footbridge, and to my surprise the disturbance put up two Demoiselles. Better still, both landed again on the nearest reeds, and the male was well placed for a portrait. I was pleased (and relieved) when I saw that I’d nailed the focus.
I finally got round to posting a selection of the damselfly and dragonfly shots I took at Grafton Wood on Thursday to my Facebook page, if you’d care to take a look.
