The dragonflies were a little disappointing during my most recent visit to Dorset but that was really only because I had been spoilt by the wonderful dragons I had seen during my mini-breaks earlier in the year; in later September the flight season for the majority of British dragonfly species is already over. There were still a lot of very active Migrant hawkers, I suspect there were a couple of Emperors in the mix, as well as a sprinkling of Common darters, and there may possibly have been Southern hawkers, as I’m still seeing those in south Wales, but, as is the way with hawker dragonflies, they weren’t stopping for photographs. It took about 30 minutes of patiently standing watching and waiting to get the photo of the Migrant hawker shown below.

My odonatan highlight came on the afternoon of the Spoonbill sighting. I’d caught the bus to Portland, walked the western coastal path, and was about to wander the footpaths through the fields north of Portland Bird Observatory, when I spotted Observatory warden Martin taking a photo of something in the field nearest the road. Curiosity aroused, I wandered over for a chat. I’m an Obs supporter and I’d stayed there a couple of times on bird club trips but I hadn’t really talked to Martin. We chewed the birding fat, then I asked what he’d been photographing. Turns out, he’d just caught a Lesser emperor in the mist nets they use to catch birds for ringing. He obviously has a way with wildlife, as the creature had allowed him to place it on a dried stalk and was still perched there, right in front of us. So, of course, I also took the opportunity to get some close-up images of this handsome migrant dragonfly.