After leaving work tonight the sun had eventually come through and was warming up nicely so I called in at Highstead to see if I could find any Red veined Darters to photograph. After a look in the area I drew a blank with the Red veined Darters but did see 1 male Common Darters and c15 female/immature Common Darters. There were 4 Emperor Dragonflies with one seen resting as I walked by but again frustratingly I was too close and could only get the upper part of its body in the viewfinder. I tried to quietly back off and remove the extender with the dragonfly not having any of it and flying off, the quest continues!
Emperor Dragonfly
Other bits noted were c8 Black tailed Skimmer, 2 Large Skipper, lots of Small and Essex Skippers, 4 Common Blue, 5 Small Tortoiseshell, a few Meadow Brown and my first Marbled White of the year posed ever so briefly allowing just one shot before moving out of range.
Marbled White
As I walked back there were lots of Common Blue and Blue tailed Damselflies enjoying the sunshine. Tomorrow looks good again so no doubt I will be hunting birds, butterflies and dragonflies in the area from early in the morning.
Black tailed Skimmer
Very good Marc, the best I've seen this year.
ReplyDeleteAll good fun with these dragonflies Marc - good luck with the Emperor !
ReplyDeleteI'd love to get Marbled White on my butterfly list here :-)