Chasing the Chasers!

I had not intended to go out today after work as the weather forecast did not look very pleasant but when I received a text from Matt Hindle letting me know that he had seen 5 Scarce Chaser I got a bit tempted. After finishing work tonight with the sun making brief appearances and a strong gusty wind I cycled down to Westbere Lakes and cycled down to the river. A quick check around the entrance where it was sheltered produced good numbers of Variable and Blue tailed Damselfly with a few Red eyed Damselflies seen as well. I didn't stop much on the bike and went straight to the river path where I stopped at a few sheltered spots. When the sun did appear I managed to see 7 Hairy Dragonfly, 1 Banded Demoiselle and a sudden orange movement flying from the reeds proved to be a smart immature male Scarce Chaser. I love seeing these beauties rushing about and as the name suggests, nationally they are very scarce indeed. Getting a photo was a bit more challenging as there was a dyke in the way but a switch to the Canon f4 300mm lens provided a couple of shots.

Immature Male Scarce Chaser

Hopefully the next few weeks weather permitting will see these dragonflies in good numbers around the lakes. Like a few other species, they seemed to have emerged quite early this year as my first last year were in the last week of May. Whilst also out yesterday evening I spent some time photographing a few Large Red Damselflies with a few pleasing results. If the weather forecast is correct it looks like the next few days will be spent indoors so I will leave you with a few shots to look over. 

Large Red Damselfly