Stalking In The Grass

The Willow Emerald Damselfly season has started a good 10 days earlier than last year and I'm already making the most of my early morning visits. A few visits last weekend saw a few emerging and making their maiden flights where often they fly straight to the trees and are lost to view but a number will fly and land in the tall grasses next to the stream. This gives me the opportunity to creep up and take a few shots before they continue their flight towards the trees where they will mature up over the next few weeks. Sunday morning saw a very brief window of sunshine and it was nice to see a few Willow Emerald Damselfly land in an area where there are a few poppies and other wild flowers growing which immediately gave me the idea of trying to capture one with a flower in the background. If nothing else, it would look a bit arty and colourful and certainly wake the photo up. The slightly tricky thing was getting into a position with the tripod and camera where I could do this but after a bit of faffing around, I was able to start taking a few pleasing images of the shot I had in mind. After about 15 minutes the sun disappeared and it never was seen again during the session. A continued walk through the grasses for a hundred yards or so produced a few more Willow Emerald Damselfly flying out of the grasses but it's still a little early I suspect to get the bigger numbers emerging. Hopefully with better weather forecast for this weekend, I may get lucky and see a number emerging and making their maiden flights. Despite being at work this week, I did have an early morning session earlier in the week at Nethergong where I was able to take a few more photos which I shall post in due coarse. I also need to try to fit in sessions at Oare, Sandwich and Cliffe during the next few weeks to see a few more species. There's not enough time... aaaaahhhhhhh!

 



Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) - female