Here, There and Everywhere

It's been a very busy few weekends with two dragonfly tours over that time to Westbere and New Hythe. Thankfully the rain eventually stopped at Westbere allowing the clients to see 2 Norfolk Hawker, 7 Scarce Chaser and 1 Small Red eyed Damselfly along with the commoner species. This Saturday, I spent the day at New Hythe with some clients where we managed to have better weather. Highlights included 6+ Lesser Emperor including a pair in tandem, 1 Brown Hawker, 2 Downy Emerald, 3 Norfolk Hawker and a Golden ringed Dragonfly on a small stream, only the second ever record for the area. We also spent some time watching damselflies emerging and hunting for exuviae and after a good few years of searching and thanks to a few knowledgeable enthusiasts on Twitter, I finally have found a Lesser Emperor exuviae for my collection. I will photograph this better in due coarse and post some photos. They are so similar to the Emperor Dragonfly exuviae with only a couple of subtle differences. Yesterday Sunday, I spent an hour or so early morning at a site in Seasalter looking unsuccessfully for Southern Emerald Damselfly which were at this site last year but I did manage to find 8 Scarce Emerald Damselfly for my troubles. The site looks excellent and I hope a Southern Emerald Damselfly may appear later on. A busy but very rewarding few weeks for myself and hopefully the clients. A few more weeks at work before the summer holidays are here and lots of sessions will hopefully be had...weather permitting.

Blue tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) - mating pair 

Variable Damselfly (Coenagrion pulchellum) - mating pair

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) - male

Scarce Emerald Damselfly (Lestes dryas) - male