Emeralds in the Grass

I had an early start this morning at Nethergong where at 4am, I was arriving on site to be greeted by a mist for the first time in a while. With no wind as well, this was perfect conditions for dew to form and I hoped I could capitalise on this by photographing a few dewy dragonflies. However, despite the good conditions and lots of searching, I failed to find any to photograph as they remained well hidden from me. What was annoying was later on when it warmed up, they were seen happily appearing from the areas where I searched earlier. I spent a few hours walking the circuit where the highlight was a first for the Nethergong site where I found 2 Emerald Damselfly, a male and female within a metre of each other. I was rather surprised to see these here and not sure if they have bred nearby and have found there way here by the maze of streams or perhaps they occur here in small numbers. Either way, I was chuffed to have found them and set about getting a few images of them. The female flew deeper into cover but the male posed nicely for a few shots with some turning out quite nicely.

Emerald Damselfly (male)

I will have to look a bit better in this area to see if there are indeed anymore lurking. Moving on I noted 2 Brown Hawker, 1 Black tailed Skimmer, 1 Ruddy Darter, c10 Common Darter, a few Azure and Blue tailed Damselfly but no sign as of yet of any Willow Emerald Damselfly which have occured here in good numbers for the past 2 years. Hopefully they will appear soon. A pleasant session made all the better by finding the Emerald Damselfly and weather permitting tomorrow morning, I will try to get out early to see if I can capture a dragonfly and sunrise shot. A bit of planning required but hopefully I will get lucky. 

Emerald Damselfly (male)