Dragonfly on the allotment fence

Passing by the side of the Headingley Station allotments at lunchtime , my attention was drawn to a cluster of tiny raspberries peeping through the fence. Reaching for a berry, I was surprised to see a dragonfly perched on the foliage. On closer inspection I think its a Brown Hawker, looking a little lop-sided. There's a small stream that runs the length of the fence on the allotment side, I've seen damselflies here before but never a dragonfly, they can be seen in numbers in certain spots along the canal.

Not having a camera on me I had to resort to a pic on my phone, so apologies for the awful quality.

Allotment and garden sightings

After the excitement of the Kirkstall Festival, we popped over to the allotment to weed, water and harvest, returning home with broad beans, turnips, gooseberries and raspberries. Lovely to see a Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) in the herb patch, feeding on Marjoram flowers.

The broad beans were lightly steamed and served alongside a nice piece of Salmon, the gooseberries transformed into a gooseberry cheesecake, the raspberries sat on top of a generous dollop of fresh cream on top of a fruit scone purchased earlier at the festival. Yum!

Back in the house, from the back door I spotted this Comma sunning itself on a potted hosta in the back garden.

Rodley Nature Reserve

A weekend trip to Rodley Nature Reserve offered the first dragonfly sighting of the year in the form of this Four Spotted Chaser, accompanied by a restless Brown Hawker and a female Broad Bodied Chaser.

On our way out we popped into the Lagoon Hide where we bumped into Chloe, Gav and Jackie, visiting the reserve for the first time. In a welcoming display of impeccable timing a Kingfisher flew into view to settle on its post before moving to another perch, focussing intently on the water below before propelling itself underwater and emerging triumphant with a fish.

Twenty+ Ringlets fluttered amongst the long grasses of the embankment running alongside the Access Road. A handful of Meadow Browns evaded our attempts to photograph them in the Hay Meadow. Five Small Tortoiseshell settled amongst nettles around the Dragonfly ponds where we saw a female Kestrel fly overhead.