We spent an incredible afternoon in the presence of at least six Norfolk
hawkers at Bickershaw Country Park today. They have been at Amberswood, Platt Bridge, Wigan for at least the past four years and are presumably breeding there, but this is the first year that I have heard of them at Bickershaw and I assume that it's a range expansion, though how and why they would be breeding at Amberswood is uncertain to me at least. You can read my thoughts from last year on the Amberswood population by clicking here. We did see an individual today that looked like a teneral so perhaps they were at Bickershaw last year as well. Where else might they be in the North West?
If
they continue at this rate we're going to have to drop the Norfolk part of the
name and refer to them by their other name, green-eyed hawker.
Great eyes! I never thought I'd see Norfolk hawker like this locally. This is a mile and a half from my home!
We'd been on site for at least a couple of hours before we saw one land, and
for a while it seemed like this was going to be my best photo from
today.
It's a great site for dragonflies, this is a broad-bodied chaser.
Four-spotted chaser.
Black-tailed skimmer.
Female emperor ovipositing (egg laying).
Red-eyed damselfly.
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