Savernake afternoon

I visited Savernake Forest with Wayne this afternoon in glorious golden sunshine. We visited the 'purple patch'[Purple Emperor country] near the column and the nearby pond, which has developed nicely since it was redug last winter. The pond held 3 male Southern Hawkers and a female which came in to oviposit. She was grabbed in the act by one of the males, forced to mate, but then broke away and escaped. There were also an in tandem pair of ovipositing Common Darters which took flight before I could get my lens onto them!
Other insects of interest were several larvae of the Pale Tussock moth on 'walkabout' getting ready to pupate underground; a robber fly with prey on a sunny oak trunk along with a female Oak Bush-cricket and an extremely well camouflaged Grey Shoulder-knot moth!
All it needs is a little sunshine to get things happening again. We may revisit again tomorrow earlier in the afternoon to get more dragonfly pics.