Southern Migrant Hawker

One year after dipping the Southern Migrant Hawkers at Hadleigh Country Park in Essex, I returned with Sam. With good weather, we had excellent views of at least two strikingly blue males. One constantly patrolled a small ditch (very close to where I looked last year) and chased of the intruding male (or males?) when close by.

Other dragonflies:
Emperor
Common/Ruddy Darter
Common/Blue Damselfly
Migrant Hawker
Red-eyed Damselfly
Blue-tailed Damselfly
Emerald Damselfly

I managed a couple of flight shots of the Southern Migrant Hawker:

 

We also both saw a Clouded Yellow and a Marsh Frog as well as a Sparrowhawk and Hobby tussling.

To continue the dragonfly theme, an Emerald Damselfly was seen in the centre of Cambridge during an evening walk with the family along the Cam.