The forecast was for a warm sunny interval at lunchtime, and I decided to go to East Park for my lunch break, in the hope to find Willow Emeralds. I parked near the western end and started by walking around the boating lake. I could find two male Small Red-eyed Damselflies perched on the floating vegetation.
At the main lake, Migrant Hawker were in evidence at regular intervals. An adult Great Crested grebe had got a large fish, and it was lucky there weren't any gulls about, as they would have set out to steal it. The grebe manipulated the fish, shaking it under the water, and finally placing it in position to swallow. I took a video as I wasn't sure it it would be able to.
Great Crested grebe adult.
Juvenile GCG.
Adult GCG with large fish. To find out what happens you might want to watch this clip.
A large terrapin, likely a female, basked on a dead tree branch. A smaller one was on the water nearby.
A Heron was sat on its usual spot on the central island.
A Woodpigeon courtship was going on, the male on the background. The female seemed interested in drinking some water.
I was pleasantly surprised by three Wigeon on the eastern side of the lake in between the two islands. They were upending and feeding on the plentiful underwater plants in this area.
Two terrapins were nearby, basking on the water.
The hybrid goose family had a single young. The female has a strange, coarse call.
A thirsty crow comes to the water to drink.
As usual, plenty of dragonflies and damselflies on the lake. I scan the islands, which have plenty of tree branches overhanging the water. These are the favoured ovipositing sites of the Willow Emeralds. It's warm enough that there should be some activity. But I see none.
There are still some Common Blue Damselflies about and a single Blue-tail by the boardwalk.
A Brown Hawker is ovipositing on the wooden posts by the shore. There is a family of coots in the area and at some point the hawker almost makes a young coot meal.
This young coot was very interested in the brown hawker.
The area around the boardwalk had several Migrant Hawkers males, with squabbles for position, but I saw no females. A Southern Hawker patrolled the boardwalk, getting very close to me.
Several Common Darters, including a pair ovipositing, were about.
I walk back, returning by the south shore of the lake. As I walk by an elder opposite the central island, the profile of a Willow Emerald becomes visible. As I prepare my camera, a Common Darter chases it and both fly away. I hang about and wait a few minutes. The darter returns to its perch. Then the Willow Emerald, a male, returns too! Very excited to find the species back in East Park, which was first found in Hull two years ago almost to the day, but not seen last year.
The Alder on the right was where the Willow Emerald was perched.
I take lots of photos of the male, which is nicely settled, and then carry on. And there are more! On the westernmost island, a pair of damselflies in tandem calls my attention. They are Willow Emeralds! They start ovipositing on a willow stem and I scramble for my camera.
The willow on the centre of the photo is the ovipositing site.
Despite trying for a while, I'm unable to find them in the viewfinder or even find them with the binoculars. I take a shot of the general area where I saw them.
Funnily enough, they are there, glistening in the middle of the image, ovipositing! Not the best photo ever, but a record shot of breeding evidence.
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