Yet More From Thursley Common!

Ceriagrion tenellum

Small Red Damselfly

As mentioned before in earlier posts Thursley Common in Surrey is regarded as one of the best places to watch and photograph dragonflies in England. On a visit this year I saw a number of new species including the Small Red Damselfly. I was surprised how small it was when I first saw it but once you got your eye in they were easy to pick out in the long grasses. Thankfully during the session I was able to get a number of pleasing images of this species in the sunshine. I'm sure another trip will be made next year again to this fantastic reserve. No doubt I will have more photos from this site in due course to publish.

Small Red Damselfly

Marc Heath

Black Darters at Thursley Common

Sympetrum danae (Sulzer)

Black Darter

Earlier in late July I made a trip with a few friends to Thursley Common in Surrey. This reserve is considered to be one of the best places to see dragonflies in England with a good host of species to see. One of the targets for the day was the Black Darter, a dragonfly I had not seen to date and was very keen to see some adult males and hopefully photograph them. It took a while for the sun to break through on the day but thankfully it did and with this we were able to see the first Black Darters of the day, the first one seen being this mature female which posed nicely for a few shots.

Mature Female Black Darter

 As we continued on we saw a few distant male Black Darters taking in the heat of the day and with a bit of patience was able to grab some pleasing efforts of this attractive species.

Male Black Darter

 It was interesting to watch them continually finding new positions and lifting their abdomens towards the sun. With a number of photos taken we called it a day returning back to the car having seen the targets for the day. A few other excellent species were seen here throughout the session, but that's another post for another day.

Male Black Darter 

Male Black Darter

Marc Heath