Wind in the Willows!

With only a couple of hours out this morning I left home at 8am in the sunshine but there was a strong wind which was going to make the job of finding dragonflies a little harder this morning. I spent an hour at Highstead where there were a few sheltered areas and quite a bit of activity. I manged to see 11 Emerald Damselfly including 10 adults, lots of Common Blue, Blue tailed and Azure Damselflies and at least 5 Black tailed Skimmer. As I walked through the long grass lots of Common Darters flew out and a few posed for some nice close shots.

Common Darter

Also seen here were 1 Emperor with a few Gatekeeper and lots of 'Whites'. I then drove the 5 minute journey to Marshside where I hoped in the sunshine I would be able to get a few more shots of the Willow Emerald Damselflies. On arrival the wind was blowing straight into the trees I wanted to search which didn't help but after a brief walk around I found a few. I remembered an area last year I looked in which was quite sheltered and this proved to be a good decision for there were c30+ Willow Emerald Damselfly in this area with 20 or so in the same tree hanging around in small groups. I managed a few shots but with a fence in the way and the Emeralds just above head height for me, that's not hard really, I still didn't quite get the desired angles.

Willow Emerald Damselfly

It was great however to see this colony doing very well indeed and weather permitting I shall be back for more shots. With a good few weeks off work now I shall hopefully be out and about in the next few days trying to capture some of the species I have not seen and photographed yet and just maybe, a visit later in the week to see another new species if the weather allows, the Brilliant Emerald.

Willow Emerald Damselfly

In the next few months I will be hopefully moving across to a website rather than blogger which in my opinion, does not do that much for my photos. In uploading some of the photos and seeing them on the blog, the difference in colour and quality is quite incredible, and very annoying!!