The Holidays are Here!

With the start of the summer holidays starting this morning I made a trip to a site near Reculver about 9am where not long after I was joined by Derek Smith. The sun was shining and it was very warm although there was quite a stiff breeze making photography a challenger at times. Whilst I was walking around a flash of yellow flew by me and come to rest and it was pleasing to see my first Clouded Yellow butterfly of the year, always a welcome addition to the day list. After a quick change of lens I was trying to get a few images which were proving a challenge as it was swaying from side to side in the wind. With a bit of patience I managed a few pleasing efforts and moved on.

Along with Black tailed Skimmer, Emerald Damselfly, hundreds of Common Blue and Blue tailed Damselfly, Common and Ruddy Darter and c5 Emperor Dragonfly we managed to find 1 male Southern Emerald Damselfly and 1 female Scarce Emerald Damselfly still in the area which was very nice. Around late morning I decided to move on and cycled down to Nethergong campsite where my wife was having her pre-school get together. As well as a campsite here, there are a few small lakes and shallow pools/ditches which hold a variety of dragonflies and so I spent a few hours walking around with the camera. For dragonflies, this is an excellent site where I noted 3 Emperor Dragonfly, 4 Brown Hawker, 3 Broad bodied Chaser, 2 Southern Hawker, Common and Ruddy Darter as well as Common Blue and Blue tailed Damselfly. With a few shots of the Southern Hawker obtained I made my way back to the group and after refueling, made the cycle back home in the heat! Hopefully a few trips out in the next week or so and I'm hoping a Scarce Tortoiseshell makes it way into East Kent and stays long enough to be seen and photographed by me if possible. 

Immature Male Southern Hawker