I had an early start on my way to Kent today and called in for a rest and an early lunch at Wat Tyler Country Park near Basildon in Essex. It had been cloudy for virtually the whole journey but as I approached Basildon I could see brightness in the distance and as I reached the country park my prayers were answered and the sun broke through! The reason for calling in here was to try to see a rare migrant dragonfly, the southern migrant hawker which has been seen recently in Essex and may be on the verge of colonising. Of course we get migrant hawker in the North West these days, but the southern migrant hawker can be identified by its bright blue eyes and yellowy green thorax, the latter making it look like a small emperor dragonfly.
I saw one flying around its favoured pool almost as soon as I got there and managed to fire off a few half decent shots of it in flight showing all of the diagnostic features.
It was very territorial, chasing off anything that came into the area, including twice a reed warbler!
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