Happy Days Are Here Again!

Although the weather didn't look good at all for dragonflies this morning with strong winds and drizzle in the air, I decided to give Nethergong a go to see what was about. On arrival at 6am the wind really was quite strong and it didn't let up in the four hours I was there. I started up with a dip with the net along the stream at various points to see whether I could net any Willow Emerald Damselfly nymphs to see what stage of growth they were at and the ones I did net were all pretty much fully grown. What I didn't expect to see as I walked through the long grass at the stream was a large Emerald fly up from the vegetation and crash into the grasses. As I scanned for it I suddenly found it and was overjoyed to see that it was a Willow Emerald Damselfly. This is about 10 days earlier than most years and it looks like they may well emerge earlier this year. With this in mind, I returned my net to the car and used the monopod to walk alongside the stream and gently brush the grasses and vegetation. A very good move as in an hours search, I manged to find 11 Willow Emerald Damselfly making their maiden flights. This is always a highlight for me during the year, watching this species making their first flights over the grasses to the nearby trees. With the light being so dull and also windy, I hadn't even taken the camera with me but with the mood lifted, I returned back to the car once again and collected it and returned to the spot where a few had been seen last. A good search at last provided me with a male at rest and in between the damselfly getting blown around everywhere, I somehow managed to end up with a few useable images. I even used the flash at one point as the light was so low but despite the conditions, they didn't turn out too bad. I'm know there will be many more opportunities to come with this species in the next few months and weather permitting, I will be back again tomorrow morning for another look. Last year I had a record day count of just under 400 Willow Emerald Damselfly, the most I'm sure in the country for the last few years and I'm hopeful this site can deliver the numbers again this year. Can I please remind all that Nethergong is a private site and permission from the owners needs to be sought first. I have in the past taken a few people around the site and they are generally very happy to allow this if I am present on the site as well.

 

Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) - teneral male