So Much To See and Take In!

With some nice sun and warm temperatures forecast for Saturday, I was out of the house at 6am where after a 2 minute drive, I arrived at a private site near Reculver. It was already very warm and as I arrived at the waters edge, damselflies were already on the wing in the long grasses and Black tailed Skimmers had already taken their place on the bare soil to warm up. I spent 6 hours on site apart from a quick visit back home about 9am for some breakfast before I returned. I had hoped that I might re-find the Lesser Emperor Dragonfly but despite constant searhing, I failed to find it. It might be down to the 15+ Emperor Dragonfly on site that it might have moved on.

Emperor Dragonfly (male)

My searching was not in vain though as I found the second Norfolk Hawker for the site which I encountered a few times throughout the morning. They really do seem to be spreading. It was also nice to see a Banded Demoiselle here, a rare visitor and only my second here also. I spent the rest of the time searching the grasses, sedges and just standing back and watching the spectacle as the dragonflies went about their business. I managed to find 3 Scarce Emerald Damselfly which included 2 males and c30 Common Emerald Damselfly were noted in various areas. The most common sighting was Common Darters, I must have seen c400 at least as they appeared to be everywhere.

Common Darter (immature male)

There were also good numbers of Ruddy Darter seen and I tried again for a decent Emperor Dragonfly flight shot but again, nothing really pleasing obtained. Black tailed Skimmers were numerous over the water and many pairs seen mating, and the grasses produced hundreds, if not thousands of Blue tailed Damselflies with lesser numbers of Common Blue Damselfly.

 Black tailed Skimmer (immature male)

 Black tailed Skimmer (male)

Four spotted Chasers seem to be in good numbers again but I failed to find any Red veined Darters, where have they suddenly gone? With the heat getting to me but a few nice images taken, I returned home late morning to cool down. Hopefully a visit in the week here and I still hope a Southern Emerald Damselfly may appear if I keep looking like last year. Maybe this week will see the first Willow Emerald Damselflies appear at nearby Marshside. I will have to check.

Four spotted Chaser (male)