The Flight Challenge

With the summer holidays finally here and some sunshine forecast for yesterday (Wednesday) I thought I would have another trip up to Seasalter to see whether I could get any flight shots of the Southern Migrant Hawkers that are around at the moment. Arriving at 10:30, it was already quite warm with a light breeze and it wasn't long until I found the first of 5 Southern Migrant Hawkers flying up and down one of the dried up ditches. I usually spent some time watching them first and try to find out how high they are flying, where they are pausing to hover and the background colour to the shots. With some information gathered, I set about taking a number of images in flight. As you can imagine, it takes a bit of luck to quickly get the target, in the view finder, manually focus and fire off a few shots. This all has to happen in seconds. It can be very frustrating but with patience and some field craft, some acceptable shots can be taken. I found a few more flying around and spent a while taking a few more photos in the morning sunshine. I also observed a pair in tandem flying down into the reeds to egg lay. Also seen were c6 Scarce Emerald Damselfly, 1 Norfolk Hawker, 1 Brown Hawker, 1 Migrant Hawker and quite a few Ruddy Darter. I then went on to Oare Marshes where along the East flood ditches, I found 4 Southern Migrant Hawker but photo opportunities were zero as most places were overgrown to get any clear views. Even more depressing was that the West Flood area was completely overgrown and no habitat for Southern Migrant Hawkers. Other than a frustrating time at Oare, it was a good day with some lovely views and a few bonus photos too. 

Southern Migrant Hawker (Aeshna affinis - male 

Joined The 'Southern' Club At Last!

With photos being posted online over the past few weeks of Southern Migrant Hawkers, It felt like I was the only person who had not seen this species this year so when a few were reported nearby at Seasalter, I decided on a visit last weekend. Arriving Sunday afternoon in quite cloudy conditions at 3pm, I made my way to the dried up pools where very quickly I could see 2 Southern Migrant Hawkers on territory flying up and down the ditch and pausing occasionally to hover. I was soon in photo mode and set about quickly watching where they were stopping to hover and moved in slowly to a good position. I was able to fire off a few initial shots and after checking the setting every now and then which were constantly changing due to the cloudy skies, I was then able to acquire a few more pleasing efforts. There were only occasional sunshine which immediately made them quite active but they soon vanished when the sun went in. I assumed that they must be going to ground somewhere in the dried up ditch so took a slow walk checking all likely areas. I eventually found a male which looked a little battle scarred but beggars can't be chooses at this point so made the most of a few photo opportunities. It seemed quite settled and I was able to creep in a little closer and capture those stunning blue eyes and markings. With the sun unlikely to make another appearance soon, I called it a day and left quite happy that I had at least seen this species this year. I also saw 2 Scarce Emerald Damselfly there. With the summer holidays starting tomorrow (yippeee) I'm hopeful of a few visits to a few Kent sites to photograph the species I encounter. Fingers crossed, I see a few more Southern Migrant Hawkers to study and photograph. 

Southern Migrant Hawker (Aeshna affinis) - male

Wonderful Willows

I was out birding quite early this morning at Nethergong and as it was quite warm, I stopped off at a few points to check for any Willow Emerald Damselflies. As I walked next to the stream, the odd one was seen flying out of cover into the grasses. Further along in a sheltered warm area, there were c20 Willow Emerald Damselfly resting up and looking pretty stunning in the early morning sunshine. I only had the Canon f4 300mm lens with me so set about getting a few photos from as near as I could get. It was just a pleasant morning watching them flying out from cover to check each other out, normally to return to the same perch they had come from. I picked up on one Willow Emerald Damselfly flying quite high and kept it in the binoculars until I lost it to view. I must have been a few hundred feet up when I lost it but just goes to show how this species can move easily like it has around the country to new areas. I also saw 3 Norfolk Hawker, 1 Emerald Damselfly (their numbers have sadly plummeted in the past few years) 1 Small Red eyed Damselfly and a few Azure and Blue tailed Damselfly. The summer holidays begin from Wednesday next week so hopefully weather permitting, I will be able to get out a bit more often to see what is about and fingers crossed, a photo or two to share. 

Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) - male

Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) - female

Super Southerns!

I led a private Dragonfly tour over the weekend on Saturday in mixed weather where we visited New Hythe and Cliffe Marshes. Most of our walk around New Hythe was shrouded with cloud and quite a brisk wind which made finding dragonflies and damselflies quite a challenge but we did find quite a few Common Blue Damselfly along with Blue tailed Damselfly, Banded Demoiselle and an emerging Black tailed Skimmer whilst we were looking for exuviae into the reeds. Unfortunately with the weather not improving that much, we failed to find any Lesser Emperor. I suggested with improving weather forecast that we took the driver over to Cliffe to look for the nationally rare Southern Emerald Damselfly. Arriving at 2pm, we walked out along the path in very windy conditions but at least the blue sky was slowly appearing. After a while we arrived at the area to start our search. John had never seen a Southern Emerald Damselfly before so I was under a little more pressure to find one and in the gale force wind, it was not easy. After a good search through the grasses in some sheltered areas we managed to find at least 7 Southern Emerald Damselfly at rest which insured some lovely views and some challenging photographic opportunities. Between us and helping each other out, we managed to grab a few photos and despite the conditions, I am relatively pleased with the outcome of these stunning damselflies photos. With only a few sites to see these in the UK, we really are lucky to have such a good variety of dragonflies and rare damselflies in Kent. We also managed to see Common Emerald Damselfly, Scarce Emerald Damselfly, Common Darter, Ruddy Darter and an Emperor Dragonfly. An excellent day in the end in great company and for John to see a new species, certainly was the icing on the cake.

                               Southern Emerald Damselfly (Lestes barbarus) - female

Southern Emerald Damselfly (Lestes barbarus) - male