2007 has certainly been good for this dragonfly. I am regularly seeing 30+ females per visit. Very often they sit in groups of 4 or 5 on the old seedheads of cow-parsley. I have seen far fewer males, but I m not sure wether or not that is normal. The males seem to have some sort of harem system. I have seen groups of females basking on areas of dead grass, with a male in attendance: ready to fly up and fight off any interloper.

It may be a coincidence, but 2 years ago a very large new pond was created about 1/2 a mile from our site. Even though we have a pond of our own, it seems likely that the influx of dragonflies this year may well have come from there.

They are simply taking advantage of the habitat provided by our coppice plantation.