Keith and I had arranged to meet up in Gravesend last Friday and despite the predicted heat wave we decided to go ahead and have a walk along the Thames with frequent hydration breaks.
Disappointingly the river only yielded up Black-headed Gulls with the occasional Common or Herring Gull. There were no wading birds on the mud. we think this is the first time we have visited and drawn a blank for waders.
So we went onto Gordon Gardens, where there were a family of Mute Swans, some Mallard and Moorhens on the lake. My attention was drawn to a large dragonfly flying over the lake which I thought was probably an Emperor, but as it flew close I could see that the blue colouring was only on the first two segments of the Abdomen, the rest of which was sandy brown with black markings. This made it a Lesser Emperor, a new species for both of us. It was constantly in flight so we were sadly unable to get any photos. We also saw Common Darter, Black-tailed Skimmer, and Willow Emerald damselfly. A Emperor dragonfly was seen to chase the Lesser Emperor and the latter was flew off and we were unable to relocate it.
We hardly saw any birds but the dragonflies and the Lesser Emperor certainly made up for it and made it worth the effort of battling through the heat of the day.
Pete's Favourite Things 