Warm sunny weather always makes me want to visit somewhere where there is water so not wanting to join crowds at a country park, I opted for another visit to Farmoor Reservoir, and a walk by the river Thames. Everywhere was quiet, nothing of interest had been reported for a few days, hence no photographers. Coots, mallards and a few greylag geese were settled down resting on the shore by the causeway and black headed gulls on the rafts but no waders there today.
I decided to follow the route I took last week from the nature reserve along the river. I hoped I might hear and even see a cuckoo, but unlike last time, I did not hear a single one. I spent some time watching some reed warblers darting in and out of the reeds, perhaps they had a brood of young to feed. A male reed bunting occasionally made an appearance too.
Continuing along the river I took a turning to the left towards the Shrike Meadow hide and stopped on a bridge over a small stretch of water. I could hear reed warblers constantly in the reeds and some great tits obviously had nest in a nearby bush as they were constantly in and out. There were many common blue damselflies there but I also noticed a few large dragonflies. A four spotted chaser regularly stopped and clung to reeds but another larger one, green and blue coloured seemed to be continually patrolling the area, in fact there were probably two or three of them. Having only just started recording dragonflies, I followed it through my binoculars, noting its large size, green head and blue body. However, I needed it to settle to confirm the species. At last it found somewhere to stop and although it didn't always rest for long it kept returning to the same spot and I managed a few photographs, which confirmed it was Britain's largest dragonfly, an Emperor Dragonfly.
path from the nature reserve to the river
view of the river
the first brood of mallard I've seen this year!
four spotted chased
pond where the dragonflies were
four spotted chaser
emperor dragonfly
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