No Pain, No Gain

Whilst it has been great having this week off work, it has been tough going with the weather which at times has been hard work. It seems most days this week it has been very windy, cloudy and raining at times, but there have been a few sunny spells to work with as well. I spent a few hours at Oare Marshes on Wednesday 4th and hoped to give the Dainty Damselflies a count. The wind however had other ideas and made it quite hard to find them initially. I ended up seeing 31 Dainty Damselfly in the usual small area. With the weather as it was, none were seen over the pool ovipositing. The habitat looks so good for them here and I'm sure there are more that cannot be seen on private land. I will hopefully make another visit next weekend and hope the weather is better to see how many are on the wing. As the rarest damselfly in the UK, I make no apologies for more photos of this superb little damselfly. It was good to find a number of females on my visit and I spent some time photographing them and trying to capture their identification features in the shots. Also seen were 46 Scarce Emerald Damselfly which is very encouraging. Again, I can only imagine how many more there must be on the land that cannot be viewed. A cracking few hours well spent despite the conditions. 

Dainty Damselfly - male

Dainty Damselfly - female

First Southern Migrant Hawkers Emerging

I spent the morning at a blustery Oare Marshes in between cloudy and sunny moments but it felt warm when the sun was out. I saw quite a few Dainty Damselfly, Scarce Emerald Damselfly and a few other species but one of the highlights was as I was checking the sheltered side of the grasses, I disturbed a Hawker dragonfly which I assumed was going to be a Norfolk Hawker. It kept low out of the wind before landing again c10 metres away. I raised the binoculars and was pleased to see it was a Southern Migrant Hawker, my first of the year. I had the macro on so went into stealth mode to try and get closer. Every now and then I stopeed to take a look and get a few shots. It wasn't long until I was now quite close and could see it was a teneral female. She had probably only emerged a night or so ago and looked in stunning condition. With a bit of patience, I was able to take a series of photos and despite the vegetation all around her, they have not turned out too bad. After the photos were secure, I spent some time studying the finer details of her markings before she took to the air and gained height before vanishing from view. What an excellent end to the session and hopefully the first of many I will see this year. I think the males when they colour up have to be one of the most stunning looking dragonflies we have. Hopefully this species will have another good year in Kent. With plenty of other photos taken today, I will post them in the next few days.  

Southern Migrant Hawker (Aeshna affinis) - teneral female

A 'Brilliant' Time!

Having paid a number of visits to Thursley Common in the past couple of weeks to look for Brilliant Emeralds emerging, I have found a few areas where I managed to find a number of their exuviae. Despite not being able to actually find the dragonfly emerging on the days I was there, the film crew that I have been working with closely, made a visit to one of the areas a day later and managed to film a Brilliant Emerald emerging. What a result and worth the effort to help them hopefully film this quite rare sight. I decided on my return home that I would photograph the exuviae to show off some of the features needed to identify them. They are a nationally rare dragonfly and so to have their exuviae in my collection is very satisfying. The most obvious feature that I check for is the presence of a large dorsal spine on S9. This is very small or absent in the Downy Emerald. Two rows of black spots are also seen on the sides of the abdomen which the Downy lacks. The long spider type legs are also a feature of both Emeralds. 

Side view

Top view showing dark spots running down the side of the abdomen

Top view showing dark spots running down the side of the abdomen

Showing head shape

Showing dorsal spines and prominent spine on S9

Showing head shape and serrations on labial palps

Tour Success!

Yesterday, I was leading a trip for 'Naturetrek' with four clients where we spent the day at Westbere Lakes and later, Sandwich Bay looking for dragonflies and damselflies. In lovely warm mostly sunny conditions at Westbere, we managed to find 14 species. The highlights included 5 Norfolk Hawker, c15 Scarce Chaser, 1 Emperor Dragonfly, 1 Broad Bodied Chaser, c40 Banded Demoiselle, 5 Hairy Dragonfly and a few Variable, Azure, Blue tailed, Large Red, Red eyed and Common Blue Damselfly. A few of these species were new for the group and it was really nice to be able to share in their delight at seeing these species. The highlight, however for me was finding a male Red veined Darter, probably a Stour Valley first and a real mega to find inland here. We all had good views before it disappeared as quick as it appeared. After some lunch, we all had a drive down to Sandwich Bay where the group were excited to see the Dainty Damselflies. Despite a blustery wind keeping a lot of stuff low down, we managed to find c40 Dainty Damselfly and the group which had been primed on identification features, were able to put these into practice on the real thing. We also managed to see 3 Black tailed Skimmer, 1 Broad bodied Chaser, 1 Emperor Dragonfly and a few Azure and Blue tailed Damselfly. Thanks to the groups sharp eyes, 2 Red veined Darters were found on one of the pools with one coming to rest every now and then on the sand. I generally have a rule that the camera stays in the bag on tours as I wish the clients to have the experiences they deserve but with a male Red veined Darter posing on the mud, albeit at a distance, a 15:40, I succumbed to the pressure and the camera made an appearance. I took a few record shots and after say our goodbyes at 16:00 and sharing the successes of the day, I went back to the darter and was able to get a little nearer and obtain a few better images. An excellent day in brilliant company. Many thanks again to Amanda, David, Judith and Steven for help making the day a success. 

Red veined Darter - male