Emperor Dragonflies

Emperor Dragonflies seem to becoming more and more common , this year I have found at least one at about every pond visited and up to three at one site , getting photos is another matter altogether , with July being very warm and long spells of sunshine Emperors can stay on the wing for long periods of time ion the search for females and to keep away rival males or anything else it sees as a rival, so although this year I have seen more Emperors than any other year to date they have been so active . I did find several that had indeed landed  but usually well away from the me 

 They nearly always land with their backs to the sun  or to the suns last  position if it clouds over for some time

 Female egg laying

close up of the ovipositor

Size in relationship to a Damselfly 

Two Emperors clash together , right beside me unfortuanatley a rush stem was in the way it's all over in a split second

 Emperor Male with Four Spot Chaser  to the right

And one a little closer

PKCS -Caspian Gull

Well I was surprised at the news of a ringed Caspian Gull at Amble harbour and the fact it had been there a few days ,so I headed up today not having seen Caspian Gull anywhere let alone the County . Bird located within minutes helped by the bright yellow ring on it's leg , the wind  blowing hard along the harbour so I got down low with the scope to have a good look at it. The bird seemed settled  and started to preen but not revealing it's flight feathers , but would suddenly take off catching me out ,where it would disappear but soon drop in again onto the sand bank opposite the harbour ,it keeps to itself and did not appear as aggressive as the Herring Gulls  moving out of the way several times when approached , I got a couple of shots of it taking off  so will try and clean them up to see the wing structure clearer ,as far as I can remember this is only the second record for the County the first being a Juvenile .