Saturday 12 August 2017

Getting My Willow Fix

Having not been out much in the last week, I was keen to get out this morning to do some birding and have a look to see how the Willow Emerald Damselflies were fairing. I arrived at Nethergong at 9am where on arrival, it was a little cloudy and breezy but unlike the forecast which always seems to be wrong, there were some nice sunny spells in the next hour or so. I made my way to the east end of the site and managed to find c40 Willow Emerald Damselfly. I watched a number arriving from high up in the trees where they then found exposed branches and set about warming up in the sun. There were a number of males and females resting close by to each other but I never saw any pairs in tandem at all and suspect like last year, this happens late morning and into the early afternoon. I will have to make a few visits in the afternoon where I hope, I can see pairs in tandem and ovipositing into the stinging nettles again like I witnessed last year. Its also still a target of mine to obtain a decent mating pair shot, something that seems to have eluded me in the past few years. Hopefully I can get out a few times in the week and fingers crossed, that these times coincide with some nice sunny weather. 

Willow Emerald Damselfly (male) 



Willow Emerald Damselfly (female) 





Willow Emerald Damselfly (male) 

Willow Emerald Damselfly (female) 

I Don't Think He Knows I'm Here!

10 comments:

  1. Wow, you sure was 'fixed up'. Beautiful the Willow Emerald Damselfly, you took so many photos, well done Marc.

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    1. Many thanks Bob. Nice to fire off a few more photos of these Little beauties.

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  2. I'll never tire of seeing your superb images of the Willows, Marc. You gave me something to smile about too with that last image. Thank you - I needed that!

    Best wishes - - - Richard

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    1. Many thanks for your kind words Richard. Much appreciated. The last shot was too tempting not to take. Just needed a thinner branch next time to get the eyes either side.

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  3. Hi Marc, Excellent set once again.

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