Rivers North of Malaga, Malaga Province.

A return to the Rivers and same rubbish results with the Camera.

Monarch (Danaus plexippus).

After the very disappointing days photography back on the 21st I decided to go down to the River again and try and get some more shots of the Ringed Cascader (Zygonyx torridus) and Faded Pincertail (Onychogomphus costae) which I had seen with Steve Jones a couple of days earlier. I arrived early and as before there was very little moving but as the temperature came up the Epaulet Skimmer (Orthetrum chrysostigma) and Broad Scarlet (Crocothemis erythraea) number climbed rapidly and then the Cascader turned up and again it performed admirably but as before the **********************ing Camera would not focus and I got the same ************ results, highly frustrating to put it politely.
The Pincertail did not help matters by just making one flypast a disappearing up stream not to be seen again!!

Ringed Cascader (Zygonyx torridus) female egg laying.

Anyway on a slightly better note I got some nice shots of a Monarch (Danaus plexippus) which landed on some stream side mint plants before starting to walk back towards the car. As I reached the Cascader stretch of water a pair flew passed me in tandem and dropped down into the same spot as they had a few days earlier so I followed. After a few seconds the male came up and I found the female Oviposting from a clump of grass straight into the fast flowing water of a side channel. I managed to get some shots of this which made the day a little more worth while.
During my few hours on site I also saw several Common Waxbills (Estrilda astrild), Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti), Western Cattle (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis) and Little Egrets (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta), White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Reed Warbler (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), 6 Honey Buzzards (Aberjero Europeo / Pernis apivorus), House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla) and Kingfisher (Martin Pescador / Alcedo atthis).

Argiope trifasciata.

Other Dragonflies seen included Small Pincertail (Onychogomphus forcipatus), Orange-winged Dropwing (Trithemis kirbyi), Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii), Lesser Emperor (Anax parthenope) and Iberian Blue-tail (Ischnura graellsii).