A quick dash to the end of the ramp this afternoon resulted in a new species of dragonfly for me for the reserve after Clive 'Waspy' Watts showed me a tantalising image of a hanging hawker showing restricted blue on the upper abdomen. Thankfully it was still there and posed well after flying a short way to a more camera friendly perch, revealing it to be a lovely Lesser Emperor which is still largely a vagrant to the UK.
I think that this is the 3rd Rainham record but it is the first to pose for photos!
Hopefully it will still be around tomorrow...
This is not the only hawker on the wing at the moment with chunky Emperors and the odd newly emerged Migrant Hawker but also keep your eyes open for green and gold Southerns...
and those big bronze winged Browns that never seem to stop so hats off to young Finley Larch for snapping this one today...
8-8-16