Willow-emerald Beauties......

Female Willow-emerald Damselfly

Female Willow-emerald Damselfly

A trip out of the county today,with Chris and Colin to Suffolk,to a little village called Campsea Ashe which was situated near the River Deben,had us enjoying our first encounter with the newly colonising Willow-emerald Damselfly.When we arrived on site,there had been heavy rain overnight and it was overcast and breezy,but things soon improved and it was almost continuous sun for the rest of our visit.The first Willow-emerald we saw was fairly high up in a riverside Alder and was too far for any images,but as the day warmed up they became much easier to get to grips with,being observed down to inches away!!.In all,a very impressive 48 individuals were counted and we couldn't have asked for better views of our new addition to our dragonfly lists!.Other species observed during the day included Blue-tailed,Common-blue,Azure,Red-eyed and Emerald Damselflies,Southern,Migrant and Brown Hawkers,Emperor,Common and Ruddy Darters,so was a very good site for Odonata and it was a very enjoyable and productive visit.This was the first new Odonata species for myself since 2007!.