It seems with December around the corner that the dragonfly season is finally over, unless we have some warmer weather in the next few days and the odd Willow Emerald Damselfly or Common Darter are still out there. Looking back over the year, it has certainly been an excellent one with plenty of visits to sites in and out of the county and quite a few trips led. As far as personal highlights go, I suppose it has to be the long trip to Dorset to see the Scarlet Darters which were a new dragonfly for me. This was quickly followed by seeing the Scarce Blue tailed Damselflies at Sandwich Bay which were a new damselfly species for Kent. It was pleasing that the Dainty Damselfly continues to do well in Kent with over 300 seen at Sandwich Bay and over 50 seen at Oare Marshes on my visits. Pleasing also to hear that it was seen in other areas at Sandwich Bay and I'm sure there are still other unknown colonies still out there waiting to be found. A few trips to New Hythe produced c30 Lesser Emperor Dragonfly along with only the second ever Golden ringed Dragonfly to be found there. Oare Marshes produced good numbers of Scarce Emerald Damselfly, I had c30 at least, and pleasing to see a few Southern Emerald Damselfly at Cliffe when I was leading a trip. My local patch of Nethergong delivered the Willow Emerald Damselflies and a welcome return to c14 Southern Migrant Hawkers which were observed mating and egg laying. Hopefully these will survive the winter and emerge next year. This year also saw me after a good few years searching finding my first Beautiful Demoiselle Exuviae, 2 Lesser Emperor Dragonfly exuviae and Scarce Emerald Damselfly exuviae. When I read this all back, it certainly has been an excellent year, both meeting fellow enthusiasts, experiences and for the camera too. With many hundreds of photos taken throughout the season, choosing some favourite ones is always hard work but I think I have managed to pick some which reflect some of the amazing trips that were made this year. I will post them in two instalments for you to hopefully enjoy and appreciate. Thank you for looking in and I will post part 2 in due coarse.
Dainty Damselfly - male
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