Here be Dragons

ByDawn

Up at sunrise again this morning, I know it’s early at this time of year, but I urge you to do it at least once. Just be still and listen to the dawn chorus, a crescendo of song in the still, cool air. Each individual bird adding it’s voice, a melody from a Blackbird here, a twinkle of silver notes from a Blackcap there, the warm cooing of a Woodpigeon, a powerful trill from the Wren, more and more joining in, building a wall of exuberant sound.

Down on the Fen it’s oddly quiet, just a few snatches of bouncing song from the Reed Warblers, a Chiff Chaff and a Whitethroat, but the Sedge Warblers are silent. Perhaps too busy nest building, or perhaps the haunting echo of the Cuckoo is a little too close today. I walk around, but no opportunities present themselves. The ponies are indulging in a spot of mutual grooming, standing side by side, scratching each others thick manes with their teeth. One of the ponies pauses it’s grazing and looks at me curiously for a moment, then flicks an ear and swishes her tail before moving on to the next patch of grass.

I head round again to where the Sedge Warblers normally are, but they’re still not singing. I spot something in the reeds which at first I take for vegetation, but a closer look reveals a little dragon perched on a reed stem. An intricate creature with dew covered wings, a fire coloured glow and four dark smudges. My first dragonfly of the season, a Four-spotted Chaser.

Four-spotted Chaser, Libellula quadrimaculata, on reed stem, covered in dew, Spring, Fen, Norfolk

 

Four-spotted Chaser, Libellula quadrimaculata, on reed stem, covered in dew, Spring, Fen, Norfolk

Four-spotted Chaser, Libellula quadrimaculata, on reed stem, covered in dew, Spring, Fen, Norfolk

 

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