Southern Migrant Hawker and much more at Thompson Common

In the past I've only seen a single Southern Migrant - fleeting views at Theberton Woods - so I was keen to catch up with the species and get some better images. Reading Chris Lansdell's excellent blog a couple of days ago, I was excited to discover that several individuals were patrolling a dried-up pingo at Thompson Common, so arranged to meet Brian there early this morning.

We knew we'd have to wait for the air to warm up before the big dragons began to fly, so we passed the time picking out Scarce Emerald Damselflies from the many Commons. Walking around the larger pingos provided unexpected bonuses in the form of several Silver-washed Fritillaries (including a Valezina) a Purple Hairstreak, a Common Blue and a Red-tipped Clearwing.

As soon as the Sun broke through we returned to the 'depth gauge pool', where Brian quickly pinned down a gorgeous blue-eyed Southern Migrant Hawker. I added another and we both managed some spectacular pictures. Nice to meet local enthusiast Graham, as well as fellow-blogger Barry 'Bushchat' Madden!