Sunday 15 October 2017

Autumn Darters

With some lovely warm autumnal weather this weekend, I have made the most of it and made a couple of visits to Nethergong to enjoy the dragonflies and damselflies. Yesterday (Saturday), I spent a few hours in morning and afternoon walking around the campsite which is now devoid of campers and managed to see 28 Willow Emerald Damselfly, c15 Common Darter and 3 Migrant Hawker. I managed to take a number of photos of the Willow Emerald Damselflies which posed nicely in the afternoon sunshine which I shall post I due coarse. I decided to return today where the plan was to spend some time watching and photographing the Common Darters as I seemed to have neglected this species of late with the camera. I arrived at 9am in the already warming sunshine and made my way to the eastern boundary where I spent the next few hours walking up and down the path checking for Common Darters on the leaves on the floor.

The Eastern Boundary at Nethergong

I managed to see c20 Common Darter in the end with a number showing well for photos in the excellent light today. I spent most of my time crawling on my stomach as I stalked them but with some patience, I was able to get a few nice images of this species as well as making time to study them as they chased each other and prey and often returned to the same leaf.



Common Darter (male)

With a number of images taken but the wind starting to pick up, I had a quick look for Willow Emerald Damselflies but only managed to find 2. No doubt they were sheltering from the wind. There were 2 Migrant Hawker seen which ended a nice productive session in lovely weather. Back to work tomorrow so fingers crossed for some more lovely weather for next weekend where hopefully, I can get back out to see whats about. 








Common Darter (male)

6 comments:

  1. That amazing light has helped get you some gorgeous images, Marc. Difficult to find a favourite as they're all superb but I guess it's a toss up between images 7 and 10 (counting the landscape image as No.1).

    We've not been as lucky as you with the weather, but it has been warm. Took my first ever photos of dragonflies (Common Darter) in the rain on Friday! It felt a bit surreal. We've still got a few mixta around.

    Keep up the good work - - Richard

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    1. Many thanks Richard. The light really does make the difference and it's so nice to be out in that weather. A real bonus. Hopefully you and I will have a few more sunny days yet until the season nears its end.

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  2. Stunning Marc, I love your close ups.

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    1. Many thanks Bob. Much appreciated. It does help having some good weather and light.

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  3. They look really good in the Autumn colours and they are in great condition too.

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    1. Many thanks Bob. Yes in the autumn light amongst the leaves, it does make for a nice setting.

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