The Lure of West Kent

With news of a few Golden ringed Dragonflies being seen by Mark Tomlins near Lamberhurst in a private wood, I arranged to meet up with Mark who had kindly agreed to take me to the area within the woods. After meeting up for a brief chat, we drove on down to the woods where after parking up, we continued further into the woods in his 4x4. I had in my mind that we would be sitting near a stream but I couldn't have been further from the truth when we pulled up to see a large circular pond in the middle of the woods. Mark had seen a few Golden ringed Dragonflies visiting the pond in previous days and as we started to scan the pool, it wasn't long until 1 Golden ringed Dragonfly flew in and started to fly around the pool before coming to rest on the furthest possible perch. Mark had photographed one a few days earlier on a few nearer perches so I didn't concern myself with trying to get some shots on the other side. How wrong I was for the Golden ringed Dragonfly decided to vanish and despite waiting around for a few hours, it never returned. For compensation though, there were good numbers of Large Red, Azure, Blue tailed Damselfly and White legged Damselfly along with a few Four spotted Chaser, Broad bodied Chaser, Emperor Dragonfly and Brown Hawkers. The lily pads were littered with Southern Hawker exuviae and Silver washed Fritillary and White Admiral were numerous in the woods. Despite the no show of the Golden ringed Dragonfly, it was still a really nice day and superb area within a wood to spend hours studying the local wildlife. 

Four spotted Chaser (male)

White legged Damselfly (male) 

White legged Damselfly (immature male)