A February trip to Cabilla Wood, near Bodmin in Cornwall to photograph early Brimstone Butterflies had an unexpected bonus instore.
While ‘trying’ to take photos of Brimstones flitting from primrose to primrose in an open glade alongside the River Fowey a dragonfly was spotted.
After many attempts we eventually managed some record shots as it briefly paused on bracken between feeding flight forays.
Given the recent warm continental winds and reports of migrant dragonflies we suspected it could be a Vagrant Emperor dragonfly.
The images later confirmed it was.
So a dragonfly and large numbers of butterflies in February!
The only downside was the previous nights moth trap had only produced a single migrant Dark Sword Grass and a few resident species.