Norfolk Hawkers at Amwell.

I had a spare morning on Saturday and went down to Amwell. The weather wasn't all that great, with generally cloudy conditions but fairly warm and humid. I had just received a 60mm Olympus macro lens for my Panasonic GX8 and wanted to give it a try, but in the end only took a couple of record shots of plant photos with it and an Azure Damselfly.

Bird wise it was a bit quiet of course, we are in the middle of the breeding season, and the ducks are starting to moult. Lots of ducklings, goslings and juvenile Black Headed Gulls all over the place, and there are a few lapwings as well, but I'm not sure about the nesting Oystercatchers. There was no sign on the island though I one did fly over from Tumbling Bay mid morning.
Hirundines in very short supply still. There are  breeding Swallows in the Gladwyn Hide, and one or two were feeding at the far south of the lake. I did see one or two other very distant birds which may have been martins. There are a a few Swifts as well, and a nice bonus Hobby was seen over the woods.
I spent a while wandering around the White Hide area and saw what I presume was a Comma (it flew by very quickly and was soon lost to view but I couldn't help thinking it might have been a Fritillary).
Apparently two Garganey were seen from White the previous evening but they weren't there while I was there. I did get a good look at the back of the island where several egret nest were barely visible, with birds coming and going all the time.

Down at Tumbling Bay things were very quiet, with only a single Black Tailed Skimmer and Azure, Common Blue Tailed and Red Eyed Damselflies on view so I went to Hollycross. Things weren't much better here with one Four Spotted Chaser among the hoards of damselflies. Various orchids had been seen but as most of the area is very overgrown with rank grasses and Hemlock it was hard to search and I never found anything. Most of the orchids in the pen had gone over but a few Southern Marsh types were still flowering. One Ringlet and one Meadow Brown were the only butterflies seen.
Back at Tumbling Bay it had warmed up a bit and had got a bit brighter. After about ten minutes two Norfolk Hawkers appeared and eventually an Emperor a s well. I was lucky enough to get a few flight shots of the Norfolk though it was very difficult to track and focus on. No sign as of yet of the Scarce Chasers (assuming they appear this year).