Red Veined Darters in East Kent

A brief visit was made in the week to a private site south of Reculver where I hoped there would be a good few dragonflies on thew wing. With the sun shining I noted a few Emperor Dragonfly, Four spotted Chaser, Emerald Damselfly, Black tailed Skimmer, Lots of Common Darter with lesser numbers of Ruddy Darter and hundreds of Common Blue and Blue tailed Damselfly. This site has been quite good in the past few years for the Red veined Darter, a nationally scarce species. As I scanned over the lake, I soon picked out a small red Darter and as it passed close by, I was able to confirm this as a Red veined Darter. More scanning revealed a pair in tandem with the female ovipositing and another male chasing. There was no chance of any photos on the water so I went in search of them on the bare ground. They often like the dry ground and sometimes can be seen perching on the low sticks. I had a slow walk around, scanning all the time when I picked out a male. Despite its small size, I was able to follow and thankfully it landed and so the stalking began. I was almost on my belly trying to crawl nearer. My experience with this species in the past has not been the best and they are often very skittish. Luckily, I worked myself into a position with the sun behind me I rattled off a few shots before he moved to another perch. I was able to get a few more shots before a flash of red soon disappeared not to be seen again. 5 Red veined Darter in anyone's book is a good day and to grab a few pleasing shots was a real bonus. Hopefully another visit soon to see if I can improve upon these shots.

Red veined Darter (male)