2026 Season Is Go!

With a few reports coming in the past few days of Large Red Damselflies emerging, I decided to make a visit to Westbere Lakes to see if anything could be seen there. I arrived at 11:30 in sunny conditions although there was a chilly breeze but the warmth could be felt in the sheltered areas. It wasn't long until I found the first of 7 Large Red Damselfly seen today sheltering in sunny spots. It's been a while since I've used the macro lens but thankfully, I was soon slowly moving in and taking a few shots before moving in again. With a few shots in the bag and a good study of the subject, I continued on where I thought that a few more damselfly would be on the wing but despite a good search, I only ended up finding 1 Variable Damselfly. I think I must be a few days early but hopefully, they will be emerging in the coming days before my next visit. It won't be long until a number of species are on the wing in the next month or so and fingers crossed, I can make a few visits to sites to see and capture them with the camera. 

Large Red Damselfly - male

Variable Damselfly - immature male

2025 Odonata Highlights

Although I don't feel that I got out as much as I wanted to this year for a number of reasons, I certainly had a few quality sessions. My tours were well attended and I made it to a number of sites throughout the season to see some of Kent's finest odonata. The Scarce Blue tailed Damselfly did well again at Sandwich Bay with low double figures seen which was encouraging and I saw my first ever 'Kent aurantiaca' female form which was a stunner. The Dainty Damselfly continues to do well at a few sites still and provided a few visits to count and photograph them. The Lesser Emperor continues to go from strength to strength with excellent numbers at New Hythe and a few reports from other sites. It was nice to once again connect with the Red veined Darter with a few males seen at Sandwich Bay and at Cliffe Marshes, the nationally rare Southern Emerald Damselfly was seen well and is one of my favourite species to photograph. 

With a number of photos taken, I have had a look through them and picked out a few of my favourites to showcase. It's been another good year for the camera and fingers crossed, the odonata species continue to do well in Kent and provide many more memories and photos next year. 

Dainty Damselfly - male

Dainty Damselfly - female

Large Red Damselfly - male

Red veined Darter - male

Scarce Blue tailed Damselfly - male

Scarce Blue tailed Damselfly - mating pair

Scarce Blue tailed Damselfly - 'aurantiaca' female form

Scarce Chaser - male

Southern Emerald Damselfly - male

Southern Emerald Damselfly - female

Thank you America!

One of my highlights of 2025 was seeing and photographing my first 'Kent' aurantiaca female Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies. Having only seen one once in the New Forest over 10 years ago, to suddenly see a bright orange carrot matchstick perched up in the long grass was very rewarding. They really are quite small and delicate to watch and study. They only spend a few days in this form before maturing up but this year at Sandwich Bay, it was great to find a few of this still, very rare Kent Damselfly. It would be nice to think that they can continue to go from strength to strength at Sandwich Bay and given the habitat there, there is every chance of this. 

On another note, I have been stunned this month by the number of visitors to 'Kent Dragonflies'. Normally, I get about 6000 visits each month but this month, I must thank America who seem to have found my blog. So far this month, I have had over 51,000 visits with about 2,500 visits each day. It's certainly nice to know that someone is looking in occasionally. Thank you. 

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly - aurantiaca female 

Autumn Odonata

A walk at Nethergong on Saturday in warm pleasant conditions produced a few Migrant Hawker, Willow Emerald Damselfly and Common Darter on the wing. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the numbers of Willow Emerald Damselfly seem well down compared to previous years but I hope this is because they have spread out more in the area, rather than be confined to a few areas. It was nice to get the camera on a few species which obliged nicely too. Hopefully weather permitting, they can carry on for a few weeks yet.

Migrant Hawker - male

Willow Emerald Damselfly