Dragon hunting

For the last weekend of National Dragonfly Week, I had organised a low-key walk on the island of Hoy, asking any members of my local dragonfly Facebook group if they would like to join me.

Several of them did, so Saturday late morning and early afternoon were spent at a couple of pools on the slopes of Wee Fea hill, west of Lyness. The weather was overcast with a cool breeze, not ideal for dragon hunting, or perhaps that depends upon your point of view. Certainly the temperature was too low for there to be much flying activity, but diligent searching in the emergent vegetation of the pools produced six species (4 of damselflies and 2 of dragonflies). Additionally, the diffuse light helped the colours of the insects stand out.

One of the gang (not me!) found a roosting male Common Hawker dragonfly, and everyone had the opportunity to watch it at close quarters and take photographs. This species is renowned for being a tireless flyer, not resting when the sun is out, so this was a very special occasion.

As the ferry left Hoy for the journey back to the Orkney mainland, the sun came out. I mean the exact second that we left the pier. It's uncanny.

The following day, my partner and I returned to Hoy for more odotastic high jinks. The sun shone from dawn until dusk, which guaranteed plenty of flight activity and potential whiplash from trying to follow an insect's rapid progress.

We visited six locations, either burns or pools, and racked up an impressive 30+ Common Hawkers (two of which were mating on the wing). All told, we saw seven species, my highest single day total in Orkney, with the seventh species being Golden-ringed Dragonfly, a dragon which I hadn't seen in an Orkney context for fifteen years. It was also my partner's first Golden-ringed Dragonfly in Orkney. A noteworthy day indeed.

Additionally, we saw Hen Harrier, Buzzard, White-tailed Eagle and Red-throated Diver, plus a couple of large caterpillars (1 Northern Eggar moth and 1 Emperor Moth) and plenty of Meadow Brown, Large Heath and Common Blue butterflies. Whilst exploring at Rackwick, we came across a large aggregation of solitary bees (if that isn't a contradiction) which were later identified by experts as Heather Colletes, a first for me.

There aren't many photos in this post, as my trusty wee camera is away at the menders having a bit of TLC. The photos above being taken on an old DSLR with a standard lens. All of which means that there's an opportunity for a photo of Yours Truly from another point of view.

Here I am, looking for dragons, alongside the South Burn which runs east to west in the north of Hoy. My cheery demeanour is the result of spotting the afore-mentioned Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

Photo courtesy of M Taylor of Wild Orkney Walks