Hairy Dragonfly

Woke up on Sunday very tired and achy. If the phone app can be trusted, and I am not exactly sure how it does it, I walked over 10 miles on Saturday. Still it was a nice morning, looked to be warm and sunny so I went down to Amwell. Had a few problems getting there-the Car Boot meant that there were severe hold ups on the roundabout, I had hoped that by now something would have been done about it by now as it has been a problem for years now.
Arrived at the same time as William and spent a bit of time chatting as we walked up the lane. Bit surprised at the lack of insect activity, considering the sunshine, but there was a rather cool breeze at times and this seems to have affected things. The viewpoint was as usual for a Sunday rather busy, and I faced a bit of a grilling as I was unable to get down to the Roseate Tern earlier in the week- the second for Herts, the only other one was at Tring in 1969.
The other major discussion was the rather annoying Titchfield Yellowlegs which a few had managed to see. Yet again it appeared during the morning, and has been seen again today-four days on the trot now. Bet it vanishes next weekend.
Not much happening bird wise, lots of Black headed Gull and Common Tern activity, a few Redshank flying around and a couple of Little Ringed Plovers still. The Oystercatchers have been successful this year, though they are hidden away on the main island. Surprising lack of activity in the air apart from large numbers of Swifts, with only one Red Kite, a Sparrowhawk and a couple of Buzzards up. Once everyone had left to go bug hunting or the Sunday walkabout, there were only two of us chatting about butterflies when two Cuckoos flew past chased by a Black Headed Gull.
I eventually got round to a walk through the woods-quiet before getting to Hollycross. Very few butterfly seen, single Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshell and Green Veined Whites and a couple of Orange Tips. The cool breeze seemed to be keeping the dragonflies down, but I eventually managed to see a few Blue Tails and Azures. Found a male Hairy Dragonfly hunting round the ash at the end of the board walk, and a female was eventually located on a reed stem in the pools.

I met up with William again, and we both decided to call it a day shortly after 11. May have been a mistake as a little while before that, Colin on his way to Stevenage had seen a Crane flying south at Colliers End, apparently heading towards Amwell.