Damselfly Delight!

With the sun shining for most of the day whilst at work I thought I would call into a site near Reculver after work to look for Red veined Darters. Unfortunately on arrival late afternoon the clouds had rolled in and the sun was nowhere to be seen. I decided to press on and have a look for any dragonflies resting up. As I walked through the grass hundreds of Common Blue Damselfly were lifting out of the grass and with not a lot else seen except 1 Emperor Dragonfly I decided to take a look in a sheltered corner where a good number of Emerald Damselflies have been seen. I soon disturbed plenty of Emerald Damselflies and as I walked on a large pale Damselfly took flight and landed nearby. As soon as it landed the first obvious feature I could see was the bi-coloured pterostigma on the wings. It was also a nice fresh metallic green in colour and showed the spot on the side of the thorax and held it wings well spread all the time, it was of course a male SOUTHERN EMERALD DAMSELFLY, a real mega of a damselfly for East Kent and only the second one I have ever seen. Nationally this is a very rare damselfly with only a few small colonies known about so what a treat to find my own one, all just a few minutes from home. I soon set about getting a number of photos from different angles, the dull weather helping me out in one way with the damselfly not flying much at all but on the other hand, the light was poor and stopped me getting a nice bright image so I had to bump up the ISO's a bit. With half an hour or so spent with the beauty I left him in peace and wandered back pondering a few questions. I wonder where this has bred, local or a migrant? The fresh condition suggests its a local individual so perhaps they have bred nearby. Hopefully I can have a look in the next week or so again but it certainly made my day.

Male Southern Emerald Damselfly