A Kent Lesser Emperor Dragonfly!

After finishing work tonight I made a visit to a private site in East Kent where I wanted to see if the Lesser Emperor Dragonfly I saw last week was still around. I walked around in nice warm sunshine and saw plenty of dragonflies including many mating pairs of Black tailed Skimmer, a few Four spotted Chaser, 3 Emperor Dragonfly, c5 Emerald Damselfly and many Common Blue Damselflies. I had searched the water a few times for the Lesser Emperor with no joy and was beginning to think it might have moved on when a while later as I continued on I saw an Emperor flying around over a grass bank where it seemed to be hanging around. As I got nearer I could see the unmistakable blue saddle of a male Lesser Emperor Dragonfly. The next mission after watching it for a few minutes was to try and get a photo, something as you an see I did  not do very well! It was very hard to follow in the camera and most attempts were blurry but at least you an make out that it is a Lesser Emperor Dragonfly, a good dragonfly to see any year in Kent.

Male Lesser Emperor Dragonfly

Its nice to know its still around and maybe I an go back for another attempt soon. Weather permitting on Sunday, I shall be driving down to the New Forest to meet a local dragonfly enthusiast who is hopefully going to show me around and find 2 new species for me I have never seen, Southern and Scare Blue tailed Damselfly. Fingers crossed for a good day weather wise for then and plenty of camera action too.