A 'Dew'tiful Day!

I was up early Sunday morning where after getting ready, I drove the few minutes drive over to Nethergong where upon arrival at 6.30am, I could see that it was a nice dewy morning with some sunshine and no wind. Had I done my homework better, I would have arrived at first light to make the most of finding and photographing the dewy damselflies but there was hopefully still time to find some roosting. I spent an hour or so walking alongside the stream checking the soaked vegetation and long grasses and got a soaking for my efforts which I think were worth it as I found a few dewy Emerald and Willow Emerald Damselflies.

Emerald Damselfly (female) 

Emerald Damselfly (male) 

Every now and then, I was alerted to the buzzing of wet wings which in turn gave away their roosting position and although most were not in ideal photographic positions, I found a few suitable individuals to spent some time. With the sun quite low in the sky and some lovely lighting for photos, I managed to take a few pleasing efforts before they continued to dry out and eventually moved off.

Willow Emerald Damselfly (male)

As the morning warmed up, I spent a while walking alongside the stream again and counted c30 Willow Emerald Damselfly. Most were seen making their maiden flights and a few were also seen emerging.  So far this season, I have had c170 Willow Emerald Damselfly emerge from the stream and no doubt missed a good number as well. Hopefully there are plenty more to emerge in the next few weeks too which will keep me busy on my visits.

Willow Emerald Damselfly (male)

Willow Emerald Damselfly (female)

Readers will note from last year that I observed them egg laying on stinging nettles and that this behaviour was potentially a British first and it seems that this method continues to work well as many have been seen emerging in this area where the nettles overhang the waters edge. I will continue to monitor them and hopefully observe and photograph this behaviour again this year. Moving on, I noted c30 Emerald Damselfly and whilst checking the waters edge, come across a close mating pair which provided me with my best shots of this species mating so far.

Emerald Damselfly (mating pair)

I also manged to see a few Ruddy Darter and before I left, I took a walk along the stream near the entrance to the site and saw c50 Banded Demoiselle.