THIS month, I have spent a great deal of time out on the marshlands of Kidderminster with the main purpose of judging the impact of the cattle grazing.

It is the cattle's job to feed on the marsh vegetation thus creating a patchwork effect that come next spring, will provide the right conditions for an abundant and varied springtime flora.

During September, the majority of this year's plant growth will have come to an end so it is then possible to make a judgement on how long the sward should be left for winter. Too long and this year's dead growth will smother the emergent blooms of light, but too much and the perennial blooms will become damaged.

As well as the ground conditions, I am usually impressed with the wealth of large spiders I encounter. This year, although there were still lots of huge heath spiders about, another invertebrate also caught my eye and ears as the air has been filled with the clatter of dragonfly wings.

I have always been a great fan of dragonflies as I find them fascinating, especially as they display such fantastic aerobatics.

The most prominent species that I saw was the southern hawker. This is a large dragonfly with a wing span in excess of 15cm and a body length of around 10cm. The males find themselves a territory and any other male southern hawker unfortunate enough to enter it will be challenged with an almost impossibly fast aerial battle, until one or the other is driven off. I found that even if I enter their territory the males are suitably aggressive enough to challenge me as well.

Fortunately, dragonflies are actually totally harmless to humans and they soon realise their bluff has been called. If a dragonfly challenges you by hovering with its wings clattering a couple of feet in front of your face, just hold your ground and stare straight back into its proportionately enormous eyes. It will soon zoom off to a high safe vantage point away from you. However scary the encounter may be, it is still a fantastic thing to witness.

What amazed me was that when I remained on the marsh into the hours of dusk one particularly fine evening, even though I could no longer see the dragonflies I could still occasionally hear the clatter of their wings. This is testimony to just how good these insects' eyes are.

As the weather gets worse during October the dragonflies will soon die off, hopefully not before locating a mate though and leaving the fate of the next generation to hundreds of eggs laid in the stalks of dead plants on the margins of a water body.

Like many insects, dragonflies over-winter as eggs, which hatch in the spring.

Unlike other insects though, the lava form of the dragonfly can live for several years as a ferocious aquatic predator before emerging as the spectacular winged adult.