A walk round the pond - week 41

I called in at the pond earlier in the week when I was passing.  It was cold, grey and windy and there wasn't much to see.  There was no sign of the swan from last week but as I was walking round I heard wing beats approaching.  The swan came into view and make several circuits of the pond.  Three or four times it approached as if to land on the water but then overshot and went round again.  Eventually, after circling several times, it  flew off to the south.  I am sure it could see me and it may be that I put it off landing.  It did give me the opportunity to take a few flight shots.

I visited again in mid week when the weather was like summer, 20℃, a cloudless blue sky and only a gentle breeze. This time the swan was in residence, happily feeding by the water's edge.

I saw several male migrant hawkers flying but none stopped for a photo.  There were lots of red darters but all those I saw were common darters, with no sign of a ruddy darter this week.  This female landed on my trousers.

I offered her a hand and she was happy to sit on my finger.

A few moments later a male common darter did the same.  It is interesting how approachable they are now after being so flighty early in the season.

Lots of others were sunning themselves.  At one point it seemed as if every tree and tree stake had a dragonfly.

So we are down to the last two dragonfly species.  I'll look next week to see if they are still present.