Sunday, 18 May 2025

I Present To You...The Dainty Damselfly

With news of a female aurantiaca phase Scarce Blue tailed Damselfly being found at Sandwich Bay which constitutes the first proven record of breeding for Kent, I was keen to try and find this individual as it had been a good ten years since I last saw an aurantiaca. the weather Saturday mid morning was pretty cloudy, but with an improving forecast, I decided to give it a go and so arrived at Sandwich about 11am. I made my way to the area which looks excellent at the moment for odonata and had a few walks around in the dull conditions. It was as predicted, quite hard to find anything but with the clouds starting to break around lunchtime, activity started to pick up. Given the date, I thought I might have an outside chance of finding a Dainty Damselfly and thankfully, over the next couple of hours, I found at least 20 Dainty Damselfly. Most were tenerals with some seen making their maiden flights out to the grasses. I managed to find a few fresh individuals and after checking out the identification features, set about taking a few photos. I moved on again and also managed to find a number of mature males which means they must have emerged a good few days ago. They really are quite Dainty as the name suggests and have to be one of my favourite damselflies to see and photograph. I spent a while watching and photographing them and hopefully I can get back in the next few weeks as the numbers build up. I never did in 4 hours of looking find the orange 'aurantiaca' but found 3 Scarce Blue tailed Damselfly which included a mature male and two teneral males. I shall post some photos of these in the next few days. Also seen were 2 Broad bodied Chaser, 3 Black tailed Skimmer and a few Common Blue, Blue tailed and Azure Damselfly. An excellent session at a superb site which has been well managed for the odonata and other wildlife. 














Dainty Damselfly (coenagrion scitulum) male












Dainty Damselfly (coenagrion scitulum) - teneral females 


Sunday, 11 May 2025

Bands of Beauty!

With some lovely warm sunshine and warm temperatures Saturday morning, I had a few hours at Westbere Lakes again to see what species could be found and photographed. With a Scarce Chaser being seen a few days earlier, I was keen to see this species. I made my way to an area where last year I found a number of Scarce Chaser exuviae and started searching in the vegetation. Almost immediately, I could see a newly emerged Scarce Chaser still clinging on to its exuviae. I have never actually captured this species in the act of emerging so It was nice to catch this. I managed to find a small gap in the reeds and took a few pleasing images. A few more exuviae were seen and in my walk, I saw a total of 3 Scarce Chaser. No doubt, a few more to emerge in the next few days. I also managed to see 10+ Hairy Dragonfly and good numbers of Variable Damselfly with lesser numbers of Blue tailed Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly and Red eyed Damselfly. As mentioned in my last post, I have a great passion for the Banded Demoiselle and I make it an annual challenge to try to get a few pleasing photos. I managed to find a few Banded Demoiselle and after some patience and stalking, I was able to grab a few pleasing images of this stunner. On my way back, I checked in on the Scarce Chaser which had now climbed up the reed and was in a nice position for some photos. The couple of hours had gone too quick but so good to be seeing the dragonflies and damselflies again. It's just a shame I only really have the weekends to see them as I would love to see some of the other species that are on the wing currently. I have a couple of weeks off in two weeks time so I will hope the weather is kind and I can make the most of my visits to see the various species on the wing. 






Banded Demoiselle - male


Banded Demoiselle - female


Hairy Dragonfly - male


Scarce Chaser - Newly emerged female


Scarce Chaser - teneral female

Sunday, 4 May 2025

A Warm Westbere

I spent a few hours on Friday afternoon at Westbere Lakes where the sun was shining and it felt quite warm. I had a wander around the area hoping there would be a few more species and better numbers than on my previous visit the week before. I managed to find c40 Variable Damselfly, 2 Red eyed Damselfly, 1 Common Blue Damselfly, c20 Blue tailed Damselfly but again, no Azure Damselfly. I can only hope that their emergence is just a little later and that the species is at threat here. It was pleasing to see 11 Hairy Dragonfly with a few mating pairs seen but never in good enough positions for photos. I think my highlight was finding 11 Banded Demoiselle. I really look forward to seeing this species every year and must be one of my favourite species to photograph. With some patience, I managed a few early season photos of them but hopefully many more to come over the next few weeks. The season will pick up pace in the next few weeks too with a number of species soon to emerge. Fingers crossed for some good weekend weather. 





Banded Demoiselle - male


Large Red Damselfly - male








Variable Damselfly - male

Monday, 28 April 2025

The Season Arrives!

With a few dragonflies and damselflies being seen around the country now, I thought I would have a look over the weekend at Westbere Lakes. I arrived on Saturday around 11am in sunny and quite warm conditions. As ever, having not photographed these mini insects for a few months, it seems to take a while to get back into the habit. This is also the case when identifying Variable and Azure Damselflies which always tests me during the early season. I spent a few hours walking around the area where I was pleased to see c30 Variable Damselfly, 17 Blue tailed Damselfly, 3 Large Red Damselfly and a newly emerged male Hairy Dragonfly. With a bit of patience, I was able to grab a few pleasing images and enjoy getting acquainted again with the id features of each species. I was surprised however not to find any Azure Damselflies. Hopefully they will erupt in the next week or so. Hopefully, I can get back out at the weekend weather permitting to see what else has emerged as the season will soon move on and before you know it, there will be many species on the wing. 





Blue tailed Damselfly - male 











Hairy Dragonfly - Immature male









Variable Damselfly - male



Large Red Damselfly - male