It seems to be more difficult in the past few weeks to have weekends where the weather is sunny and warm enough for what dragonflies and damselflies there are left to fly. Yesterday (Saturday) the weather was quite sunny and with twelve degrees celsius forecast, I decided that I would spend a couple of hours at Nethergong hoping to find a few late Willow Emerald Damselflies. On arrival around midday, it was indeed sunny but with a very brisk wind blowing, it was going to be hard work trying to find anything. I spent some time looking in some of the sunny sheltered areas and was pleased to find 11 Common Darter still on the wing but after an initial look in areas for Willow Emerald Damselfly which drew a blank, I had another walk around and thankfully, I managed to find 4 Willow Emerald Damselfly. One of them took a liking to me and landed on my nose for a while before flying off and landing where I managed to take a few photos. I suspect these may be my last images of this species that I manage to take this year but you never know, if we have a week of mild weather, I may just get lucky next weekend. My latest sighting of a Willow Emerald Damselfly at Nethergong is the 13th December so it is possible weather permitting. It's been a very successful year for the Willow Emerald Damselfly this year at Nethergong and hopefully, they have laid many eggs to overwinter to carry on the next generation next year.
Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) - male
You gotta winner there Marc, iridescent is my word.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Bob. It's going to feel like a long winter waiting for next Spring to arrive. I feel some dipping and photography sessions coming up.
DeleteEssence of summer well into autumn.
ReplyDeleteIndeed Wilma. Even with the cold few days we had and dropping temperatures, they are hardy little things.
DeleteThe light on those images is fabulous, Marc. With all your novel ovipositing discoveries you've found for Willow Emerald, maybe you've potentially just found another - might have given your nose some discomfort, however! Best wishes - - - Richard
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Richard. I was obviously given off some heat which attracted it on to my nose. I wonder if they see heat like we can through technology etc?
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