Number 25

Come in, Number 25! I wailed*. My time is almost up!

Dragons aren't usually noted for being cooperative, but right on cue the Norfolk Hawker I'd been trying desperately to track with the camera for the previous quarter of an hour, as he zoomed around the small area of water meadow he'd adopted as his territory, suddenly screeched to a halt (I may have imagined that bit), and hung in the air for several seconds. It wasn't much time, and he was a long way away - and, frankly, quite hard to pick out against the relentless swathes of water soldier - but I somehow managed to make it count. Then, after checking that a few of the hundred or so frames I'd just shot on high-speed burst were at least vaguely in focus, I tipped my metaphorical hat to him, and left.

Paxton Pits is an excellent wetland nature reserve, and if I lived closer I'd undoubtedly be a regular visitor, but I don't, and I absolutely loathe the journey there from the Shire. For reasons I've never understood, it's far more irritating to make east-west trips in this country than it is to go north-south, and East Anglia is especially painful to access. At least only two other motorists tried to kill me today, and for once neither incident was on the A14, but still, if I never see that stretch of road again it won't be a day too soon. The Norfolk Hawker (don't get me started on its common name) is steadily spreading westwards, and this year one even turned up at Lower Moor, so I live in hope that I won't have to make the trek to Cambridgeshire many more times. Today though, it was that four and a half hour round trip, plus four and a half more out on the reserve, that got me my twenty fifth Odonata species of the year.**

The flight season of the Norfolk Green-eyed Hawker runs from May till August, but in my experience June is the best time to see them. Certainly there were fewer around Paxton Pits today than I'd been hoping to see. Newly emerged adults take two to three weeks to become fully mature, and during that time they may wander some distance from their natal sites, but once they're sexually mature the males are territorial, and energetically patrol their chosen breeding site in search of receptive females. 

An interesting fact about this species - in the UK, at least - is that it's strongly associated with the free-floating aquatic plant Stratiotes aloides, commonly called water soldier or water pineapple. It readily colonises unpolluted dykes, ditches and lakes that support healthy growth of this plant, though it will use other emergent vegetation, if water soldier isn't present at an otherwise favourable site. My second photo shows one of the females I saw ovipositing into water soldier, which they seem to do by grasping the emergent leaves and then pushing themselves slowly down the plant until they're half-submerged. It's thought that larvae take two years to develop fully, during which time they live among the water soldier, feeding on the wide range of aquatic invertebrates this plant supports.

* Silently, in my head - I'm not a total barmpot. Well, most days I'm not.

**  From next week I'll be turning my attention to the acid-loving dragons, and wondering if I might be able to find some without having to scale the Long Mynd.


And, now (drum roll), this week's Tiny Tuesday results. Thanks to everyone who played, for giving me some interesting and attractive images to consider, on a wide range of subjects. There were some especially nice insects (you don't get extra points, by the way, if you submit four invertebrate portraits, but - well - no, actually - yes, you do), but it's always good to see some inanimate subjects turning up as well.

In no particular order, my hearts this week go to:

Incredibish 

Sheol 

Nicoiseannie 

Mayisle 

Technophobe

And - again, in no particular order, I'd like to give Honourable Mentions to:

ApolloFly 

c1aire 

rmeinz 

Gasman 

Marlieske 

KangaZu

That's it for this week. I hope you'll all play again next Tuesday, when the tag will be TT528.