Norfolk Hawker
Aeshna isoceles
With news of one of my favourite dragonflies being found a few minutes from where I live, the Norfolk Hawker, I was keen to see this very rare dragonfly again and hopefully be able to get a few images. I associate this dragonfly with water, dykes and ditches so when a friend called to say he had found one in East Blean Woods, I was a little surprised to say the least. My first attempt as seeing it drew a blank, my second visit I was able to get a few minutes as it flew around the car park area and take a few record shots but with patience on my third visit in warm conditions the Norfolk Hawker found me in a clearing where it spent some time flying around but thankfully landing a few times in and around the log piles. I was able to get into a few good positions while the wood ants were biting me and take a number of pleasing shots of this stunning dragonfly. It seems a weird place for a Norfolk Hawker to be, in the middle of a big wood but it seems to be feeding well. Is it a migrant or a breeding one dispersing, I did find one a mile or so away a couple of years ago and Westbere Lakes is only a few miles to the south of the woods. Perhaps it has come from there. Hopefully it will remain for others to visit and admire one of the countries rarest dragonflies.
Female Norfolk Hawker
Marc Heath