Wareham Forest 23rd June. You can only go Wow once!

With temperatures soaring we sought an early walk in shade. We went to Wareham Forest again and chose Gore Heath because it had lots of trees on the OS map app. I wasn't expecting much in the way of wildlife, but the walks were nice and broad, which was a mixed blessing. It meant I got to see a mid-range large bird slowly making its way over, and the gull/raptor question was resolved in favour of a decent binocular view of an Osprey heading over presumably to nearby Wareham Channel in Poole Harbour. there was a distant Hobby, but also lots of sun. 

Eventually we found a sheltered walk, and whilst going down there a Golden-Ringed Dragonfly whizzed around. We don't have this species in East Anglia, it is scarce on Thursley and Ashdown Forest, so my sightings have been limited to a brief encounter in Wales and a slightly better one in Dorset last year. It was a species I had really wanted to see properly for a while, and my limited views had only increased this desire, so it was nice to see this but I could have done with closer and longer.

Then a few yards further on I got closer and longer; one, possibly the same settled on a fence post beside me. What a beast! Views as good as anyone could hope for. It even posed for my iPhone. 

And that is Golden-Ringed Dragonfly completed for me. I saw another one - nice! And when I see others I will be pleased to see them. But you only get one go at seeing a species close-up for the first time and looking at it in awe, soaking up every detail. And this was my moment with Golden-Ringed Dragonfly.

** for some proper photos of GRD, look at Marc Heath's fantastic blog **