Sunday 25 May 2014

Those 'Beautiful White Legs'

I had arranged my annual visit to Pittswood this afternoon to see Warren Baker and hopefully enjoy the dragonflies that his patch has to offer, notably the Beautiful Demoiselle and White legged Damselfly. Both of these species do not occur in east Kent so at 11.30am I made the drive over to meet Warren where he was waiting when I arrived at 12.20pm. After a brief chat we were on our way across the meadows and after walking through the woods, we come to a few clearings where the sun was shining through nicely. After a brief walk around it wasn't long until Warren found a few White legged Damselflies, a few immature females but also a nice male which was starting to blue up quite nicely. I was soon on my knees firing off a number of shots of these little beauties and managed to capture a few pleasing efforts. I ended up seeing c12 White legged Damselflies, a good start to the day.

Male White legged Damselfly

Immature Male White legged Damselfly

Immature Male White legged Damselfly 

Immature White legged Damselfly 

Male White legged Damselfly

Also in the area as we wandered around were 3 Beautiful Demoiselle, 1 Broad bodied Chaser, 1 Four spotted Chaser, a few Azure, Common, Blue tailed and Large Red Damselfly and a surprise in the form of a male Emperor Dragonfly, a great sight to see every year. After having my fill of the damsels we wandered on over the patch to an area where it is quite good for Beautiful Demoiselles. On arrival it was quite windy and initially we could not find any. I did see a probable immature Black tailed Skimmer briefly but it did not hang around and a Large Red Damselfly. We continued on to a more sheltered area where Warren soon found 2 male Beautiful Demoiselle and as the name suggests, they are indeed Beautiful, the colours on the body and wings are superb. I set about trying to capture a few images and as they are so wary, it was quite challenging. After yet more stinging nettles stings, my legs are still in pain now I managed a few images of them although I don't think any photos can do them justice really. 



Male Beautiful Demoiselle 

With time up we wandered back and after a chat I made my way home. A great and do I dare say 'beautiful' session with a few images obtained. Many thanks to Warren for his company today and finding the target dragonflies, very much appreciated and I may make another visit again in the near future.

Male Beautiful Demoiselle

5 comments:

  1. That male Beautiful demoiselle came out very nicely after all Marc, I dont think the camera will ever capture their true iridescence though :-) I like that White-legged damsel eating the insect and the head on shot is spot on, just need a few mature males to appear now, another couple of weeks should do it........given some decent weather of course :-)

    Good to meet up again mate :-)

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  2. Magnificent Marc!
    How do you manage to get sun??
    Even your male Beautiful Demoiselle is in the "obelisk' position! LOL!
    Down here the weather is a misery... rain every day!!
    My latest shots of damsels are no good to publish, what a frustration!
    I just invited Warren to join us on Dragonfly World, I his pics are great!
    I hope he will accept, it would be fun!
    Keep well!

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  3. Great stuff Marc, I'm struggling to find White Legged here but plenty of Beautiful Dems and Downy Emeralds now.

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    1. I may have to make a trip Alan in the next few weeks there for the Downy's I think.

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  4. Aren't you in the south of France where it should be hot now? I hope Warren considers your invitation, a great way to share and get your photos out there.

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