2018 Odonata Highlights (June - July)

With June and July having a good range of species on the wing, it wasn't no surprise that I made quite a few visits to places in Kent and a few out of the county. A return trip to Thursley Common provided me with my best ever views of Brilliant Emerald including a few seen emerging and some exuviae collected.

 

 Brilliant Emerald (Somatochlora metallica) - newly emerged female

Brilliant Emerald (Somatochlora metallica) - teneral male

 

I spent a while again this year trying to photograph the rarely seen emergence of the Banded Demoiselle and was rewarded well with a superb emergence which provided some lovely photo opportunities.

 

Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) - newly emerged female

 

Having only ever seen the Common Clubtail once before, I made another out of county visit to West Sussex where I was able to spend the day seeing my first ever mature males of this species and take a few pleasing photos.

 

Common Clubtail (Gomphus vulgatissimus) - male

 

With news in Essex of the Southern Migrant Hawkers starting to emerge, I made the trip over hoping I might be able to see some and collect some exuviae. Not only did I find a few exuviae but I was treated to finding a few having recently just emerged and over 50 Southern Migrant Hawkers making their maiden flights. Quite a spectacle to see.

 

Southern Migrant Hawker (Aeshna affinis) - newly emerged male

 

Better was to come as I had never seen this species in Kent when I was alerted to a few in north Kent at Cliffe. It took me a few visits but thankfully, good friend, Frank Cackett was able to find me a few to see and my first ever Kent individuals.

 

Southern Migrant Hawker (Aeshna affinis) -  female

 

Little did I know that this species was to have an excellent year and not long after, a good number started to appear in Kent and Oare Marshes boasted the majority. I spent quite a few hours here over some visits and was able to study and photograph this species well including some of my favourite shots this year. A true highlight and one that I hope is repeated next year too.

 

 Southern Migrant Hawker (Aeshna affinis) - male

Southern Migrant Hawker (Aeshna affinis) - mating pair

 

The past few years has seen the Norfolk Hawker increase in numbers in the Stour Valley and this year was no different as good numbers were seen and photographed. A good number of exuviae were also found and collected.

 

Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) - male

 

A chance netting session rewarded me with a Brown Hawker nymph which was then put into my pond and after a few weeks of waiting, I was then able to photograph the emergence of this lovely dragonfly, another first for me.

 

Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis) - emerging female)

 

A few sessions at dusk trying to photograph the silhouettes of Banded Demoiselles is always a thrilling time to be out and after some patience, I was able to find a few willing subjects to photograph.

 

Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) - male at sunset

 

Mid July is the time of the Willow Emerald Damselfly and after a few fruitless visits, they started to emerge and a few early morning visits to the stream at Nethergong provided me with a few emerging to photograph. I never tire of this sight and it's wonderful to just sit back and enjoy this marvel of nature develop in front of you.

 

 Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) - emerging

 

 Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) - female

 

A really busy couple of months but most definitely some excellent rewards had for the time I had put in. My next instalment of highlights will feature the odonata seen throughout August and September.

2018 Odonata Highlights (April - May)

2018 will personally be remembered as probably my most successful year to date with regards to seeing and photographing dragonflies and damselflies, both in Kent and out of the county. At the start of the year, I set myself a number of targets with some being reasonably straight forward through to a few tough challenges which were going to require both time and a bit of homework. A few of these included trying to capture the emergence of a male Hairy Dragonfly, Norfolk Hawker and Downy and Brilliant Emerald as well as seeing my first male Common Clubtails. I also wanted to add to me exuviae collection and many hours were spent staring into reedbeds and checking emergent vegetation. Thankfully, the hours put in were rewarded with a number of new species exuviae collected. With so many visits made throughout the season and many images taken, it's been very challenging to pick a number of favourite images. To be honest, I could have chosen so many more but I have at last managed to pick a few which I find personally pleasing to look at or carry an interesting story on how I obtained the images. I have decided to put them into groups seen in particular months and during the next few weeks, I will showcase my favourite images taken throughout the year. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did taking them.

 

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) - male, April

 

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula)  emerging - April

 

Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) - male,  May

 

 Downy Emerald (Cordulia aenea) - male, May

 

 Downy Emerald (Cordulia aenea) - male, May

 

Downy Emerald (Cordulia aenea) - female, May

 

 Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) emerging - May

 Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isosceles) newly emerged female - May



 

Brilliant Emerald v's Downy Emerald

Having collected both Brilliant Emerald and Downy Emerald exuviae this year which do look somewhat similar, I have recently photographed them separately to aid others in the identification of both species but thought it would be a good idea to make some plates of both species together to show some of the key features of the species. Until this year when personally, I was still learning the features of both species for the first time, I soon found out that there are some quite obvious features to look out for and once I had got my eye in, I was then able to quite easily distinguish both species quite easily. I suppose the key features on the Brilliant Emerald exuviae are the prominent dorsal spine on S9 and dark spots on the abdomen whereas the Downy Emerald exuviae can be identified by the small or absent dorsal spine on S9 and the two dark stripes on the side of the thorax. I'm sure throughout the winter period that I will spend some more time studying and photographing exuviae but I hope enthusiasts find the plates of these two species of use to them in the near future.

 

 



Nearing Willow End

It seems to be more difficult in the past few weeks to have weekends where the weather is sunny and warm enough for what dragonflies and damselflies there are left to fly. Yesterday (Saturday) the weather was quite sunny and with twelve degrees celsius forecast, I decided that I would spend a couple of hours at Nethergong hoping to find a few late Willow Emerald Damselflies. On arrival around midday, it was indeed sunny but with a very brisk wind blowing, it was going to be hard work trying to find anything. I spent some time looking in some of the sunny sheltered areas and was pleased to find 11 Common Darter still on the wing but after an initial look in areas for Willow Emerald Damselfly which drew a blank, I had another walk around and thankfully, I managed to find 4 Willow Emerald Damselfly. One of them took a liking to me and landed on my nose for a while before flying off and landing where I managed to take a few photos. I suspect these may be my last images of this species that I manage to take this year but you never know, if we have a week of mild weather, I may just get lucky next weekend. My latest sighting of a Willow Emerald Damselfly at Nethergong is the 13th December so it is possible weather permitting. It's been a very successful year for the Willow Emerald Damselfly this year at Nethergong and hopefully, they have laid many eggs to overwinter to carry on the next generation next year.

 

Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) - male