07:30 to 09:00 (all records from car park). Peter Law
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| Southern Migrant Hawker (imm) @ 07:30 |
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| Southern Migrant Hawker (imm male - see comments) |
Southern Migrant Hawker - c6 immatures less prominent than yesterday, maybe some have dispersed. Most became active around 08:30
Emperor - 1 female blue form
Ruddy Darter - 2 imm males
Beautiful Demoiselle - 2 female
Ruddy Darter - 2 imm males
Beautiful Demoiselle - 2 female
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| Emperor (worn female blue form) |
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| Beautiful Demoiselle (fem) |
Peter, you clearly had the right strategy. When I arrived from Blenheim at 13:30 there was nothing to be seen in the car park. Too hot!
ReplyDeleteEarly morning is clearly best. I was there from 11.00 until12.00 and five were zooming around as my last visit with no chance of a settled photo. Maybe when it is not so hot they are more prone to perching up.?
ReplyDeleteThe teneral Southern Hawker is confusing me. Horizontal markings on S9-10 should be complete, but they’re broken. In fact, the entire bottom of the abdomen looks really weird for Southern. Antehumeral stripes appear really muted, too. Is it just a case that these features develop during maturation? Odd.
ReplyDeleteAnd other things are strange - wide pterostigma, for example. The abdomen markings are a better match for teneral male SMH than Southern, imo, but S1-S2 don’t look quite right for SMH…
ReplyDeleteLeo, thanks for highlighting the strange appearance of the photo captioned Southern Hawker. I agree it looks odd. I will consult with an expert at the BDS I usually use for these matters - Adrian Parr. I will advise on what he says.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steve. My increasing belief is that it’s an immature male SMH, and might actually have been mis-captioned by Peter.
ReplyDeleteLeo, I've just had a very quick response from Adrian, and yes he agrees it is an immature male SMH starting to transition into mature colours.
ReplyDeleteCheers Steve.
ReplyDeleteSo is this the first time the colour form has been recorded pictorially in the county? I had not seen it before either in the field or as an illustration.
ReplyDeleteIndeed an unusual form. Like you, I have never seen one like this before., nor does it appear in my ID books.
ReplyDeleteEven better and worth going out early for then!
ReplyDeleteIndeed! Well done!
ReplyDelete