HAIRY HAWKER

I was surprised to find this male hairy dragonfly along the Strood seawall on a dull early-evening on Friday 30th. Judging from reports elsewhere in the region, the dragonfly season has only just started in the last few days, so it's been nice to see this scarce Mersea dragonfly out so early here on the Island.

This individual was so obliging and confiding that it was happy to be transferred from the grass-stalk onto my hand, where this close-up photo of it's hairy body can be clearly seen in the picture above.


The big shiny eyes and the intricate network of veins and cells on the delicate wings show up well in this photo. Although it was first seen in flight as it settled back down into the long grass on the seaward side of the seawall, it had probably only recently emerged as an adult. The nearest water for it was just inside the seawall, a club-rush lined brackish dyke just 20 metres away.


Although the hairy dragonfly has been seen at the park at East Mersea in recent years, none have been recorded from west end of the Island as far as I know. The distribution of the hairy dragonfly has been spreading across Essex over the last couple of decades. The dragonfly survey of Essex in the mid 1980's revealed that the nearby Langenhoe Marsh was the only known Essex site for the hairy dragonfly.

While this dragonfly was being watched, a greenshank and a cuckoo were heard calling nearby. There weren't many waders along the Strood Channel despite the low tide with 4 whimbrel, 3 bar-tailed godwits and an avocet being the main ones of note.

In the fields 5 golden plover, grey heron, little egret, 150 starling and 2 linnet were noted with a kestrel near the caravan site. Ten house martins and 15 swallows flew over the reservoirs at the bottom of the Strood Hill as did a swift, although five other swifts flew over houses at the top of the Hill.



Nearly dismissed this corpse on the tideline as a "sea-gull" until I noticed the thin red bill. Judging by the state of the body, this poor common tern had been a recent light snack for a probable peregrine. Common terns have only just arrived back in the last few days from their wintering grounds in Africa, so it's a bit sad for it to fly the thousands of miles, making it back to the potential breeding grounds here near Mersea - and then end up as a meal for someone else within days of arriving!