A 'Beautiful' Day at Sissinghurst

With Thursdays forecast looking very good with light winds and warm temperatures, I decided to take a drive over to Sissinghurst Castle grounds in west Kent. The task was to see if I could see three of the species we do not get in east Kent, Beautiful Demoiselle, Downy Emerald and White legged Damselfly. I left home at 9.30am where after an hours drive, I pulled up into the car park and after getting ready, I walked on down towards the lakes in sunny warm conditions. I then spent the next 5 hours walking around this excellent site and it wasn't long until I found the first of c10 White legged Damselfly in the long grass by the lake. I was soon rattling off a few photos before moving off to see if I could find some males of this species which I did by the waters edge. There pale blue colour standing out well along with their dangling legs in flight made them quite noticeable to see.

White legged Damselfly (male)

White legged Damselfly (female)

After a few shots of the males I started to scan the lakes and was soon watching c12 Downy Emerald zipping over the water. Try as I did for a long while, I could not get near them in flight and was only left with blurred shots as well as empty screens and parts of the body. Such is the speed of this dragonfly but it was just lovely to watch them flying about. With two of the species seen, I then wandered around the lakes where there were good numbers of Four spotted Chaser, c6 Hairy Dragonfly and c6 Emperor Dragonfly with a female photographed in the meadow.

Emperor Dragonfly (female)

Also noted were good numbers of Large Red Damselfly, Blue tailed Damselfly, Red eyed Damselfly and Azure Damselfly. After passing by the lakes, I then started to walk into the wooded area which has a small stream passing through. It is here a few years ago that I had my first encounter with a Golden ringed Dragonfly but I suspect I was a few weeks early to see them here. It wasn't long until I saw the familiar butterfly flight of a Beautiful Demoiselle, c20 Beautiful Demoiselle were seen in the wooded area. What stunners they are and I spent a good few hours watching, studying and photographing them although they were quite challenging most of the time to get near. 

Beautiful Demoiselle (male)

Eventually with a bit of patience, I was rewarded with a few nice photo attempts. With the time passing by quickly, I spent the last half an hour or so back at the lake watching the dragonflies and damselflies flying about. Just a pleasure to be in their company and a thoroughly enjoyable day was had. 

Beautiful Demoiselle (male)