On Sunday I popped into RSPB Rainham Marshes in hope of finding some water voles. I had no luck but did find a couple of cooperative migrant hawker males. Sadly the light was not so cooperative m, with the sun increasingly dissappearing behind clouds, and doing so as the dragonfly hovering in front of me!…
While at Dungeness on Saturday I came across a migrant hawker that had settles on a gorse bush. It stayed still while I got some close ups too. I also came across this clouded yellow butterfly. A kestrel posed, though a little distantly. A keeled skimmer sat on the path. A black necked grebe (as…
A quick photo of a scarce emerald damselfly, the last one I saw this year.
On Wednesday I popped up to Fingringhoe Wick and got some nice photos of willow emerald damselflies Lestes viridis. There were a few mating pairs around too. I also finally got a photo of a brown hawker, my odonata nemesis! A ruddy darter male posed. And a pair just about posed on some bramble.
A post to update on the southern migrant hawkers in Wat Tyler CP. They have been seen most days , generally with sightings occurring in the afternoon, peaking between 2 and 4pm but I observed them on evening at 6.20pm Reports of up to 4 males on Sunday 4/8/13 were sent to me, from the…
A quick 1 photo post of a small red damselfly on Thursley Common.
Regular blog readers will know I am lucky enough to frequent a place that last year had daily sightings of the recently colonising Southern migrant hawker Aeshna affinis, in fact its possible I spent more time than anyone else observing them last year. A month or 2 ago I was emailed about them by James…
Yesterday I had my annual trip to Thursley Common, the most species rich site for dragonflies and damselflies in the country. I managed some nice photos, including these black darters (my first of the year) which posed for some shots. The black mature males were flighty and I only managed this shot of one. Some…
Here is a video of a emerald damselfly (Lestes sponsa) doing ‘the worm!’ It is really using its abdomen to clean its wings, which was interesting to watch. You can tell from the video there was a bit of breeze yesterday!
Species number 4 in my series to celebrate National dragonfly week. Today the banded demoiselle, Calopteyx splendens. This species is usually found slow flowing rivers with muddy bottoms, but they can wander far from these habitats, I’ve seen them a long way from any flowing water. The male (photo above) is metallic blue with a…