Bands of Beauty

Every year I look forward to seeing the Banded Demoiselle and in particular, males fluttering across a pathway or river. They really do get my attention and I just love studying and photographing them. They are a very shy species and are easily spooked so some fieldcraft is often needed to get close enough with a macro lens. Most will often fly before you get into a good position but just occasionally, you get an individual that allows a close approach. I sometimes use the Canon f4 300m lens when I cannot get in close but the challenge of getting in close is what I like. I spent a few hours at Westbere Lakes where I saw a few Banded Demoiselle along with Blue tailed, Variable, Azure and Large Red Damselflies which I photographed, but most of my time was spent near the river watching these river butterflies enjoying the warmth of the day. After many near shots, I eventually found a few individuals to photograph with some success I think. The wing veins on this species are just incredible up close and to the normal eye, we don't often get to appreciate their detail so to see these up close through a macro lens is just brilliant. I will hopefully have a session soon where I just focus on these wings and to see whether I can capture their beauty. 

Banded Demoiselle - male

Banded Demoiselle - female

Scarce Emerald Damselfly On The Wing

With very warm temperatures from first light this morning, I decided on a trip over to Oare Marshes again to see whether I could find any Scarce Emerald Damselfly and Dainty Damselfly. On arrival at 8am, it was very warm and barely a breeze. I walked up to the Dainty site through the long grasses and emergent vegetation and was amazed to find 53 Scarce Emerald Damselfly. They seemed to be every where. Most were teneral males and females with the odd maturing male noted. A few were seen making their maiden flights out from the grasses and I spent some time getting a number of images of this delightful little damselfly. With some patience and fieldcraft, I was able to get in quite close with the trusty Sigma 150mm macro. I'm sure if I had continued on checking, that I would have found a lot more but it's very pleasing to see such a good number already. I only managed to find 2 Dainty Damselfly, a teneral male and female. They seem a little later this year and hopefully in the coming few weeks, that their numbers will build. I'm sure I'll have another visit very soon to check on their numbers. Also seen were 6 Hairy Dragonfly and a few Blue tailed, Variable and Azure Damselfly. With the temperatures really getting going by 10am, I decided to call it a day and headed back to an air conditioned car!

Showing ovipositor reaching beyond S10

Scarce Emerald Damselfly - female

Teneral male

Maturing male

Scarce Emerald Damselfly - teneral male

A Chilly Oare Marshes

Although about a week early, I thought I would have a visit to Oare Marshes this morning to see whether any Scarce Emerald Damselfly and Dainty Damselfly had emerged yet. On arrival, it was a little chilly with a cold wind which wasn't going to help out at all. I spent some time walking through the grasses, checking the sheltered areas but unfortunately, I didn't find any of the target species. For my troubles, I did manage to see 1 Hairy Dragonfly, 1 Variable Damselfly, 2 Azure Damselfly and 2 Blue tailed Damselfly. I have a couple of weeks of work coming up at the end of next week so weather permitting, I shall be making another visit soon to see whether they have emerged and hopefully, a session or two studying and photographing them. 

Hairy Dragonfly - male

'Orange' Needle in a Haystack!

With some pleasant sunshine, light winds and a nice temperature, I spent a lovely four hours at Sandwich Bay yesterday where the plan was to try and see my first Dainty and Scarce Blue tailed Damselflies of the year. Despite being early in the season for both species, they had been seen earlier in the week so I was hopeful of seeing them. I spent most of the time there with the place to myself. With quite a bit of patience I ended up seeing 5 Scarce Blue tailed Damselflies, 2 mature males early afternoon patrolling the pool and 3 'aurantiaca' phase females. Despite their stunning orange appearance, they were hard to find in amongst all the vegetation and grasses. I spent quite while studying and photographing them which is always a challenge with something so small, but quite happy with the results. I also found at least 4 Dainty Damselfly and within the next few weeks or so, the males will be  colouring up in all their glory. Also seen there were a few Azure, Variable, Common Blue and Blue tailed Damselflies, 2 Broad bodied Chaser and at least 3 exuviae of Emperor Dragonflies. There were c20 unidentified teneral damselflies leaving the pools throughout my stay. I also collected a few damselfly exuviae from the waters edge in the hope one might be from a Scarce Blue tailed Damselfly, which I still need for my collection. All in all, a very nice session. Fingers crossed next weekend is sunny and warm so I can get out again to enjoy these beautiful insects. 

Scarce Blue tailed Damselfly - 'Aurantiaca' phase female

Dainty Damselfly - immature male