Totally unexpected discovery

Because I needed to get the ball rolling with the sale of Bev's car, plus a visit to the insurance brokers to sort out the situation, Bruno and I didn't leave home until around 11.00 hrs. We headed across to Worth Marshes RSPB Res. purely because I thought there might be a chance of a dragonfly, or two, to point the camera at. As it turns out, the brisk easterly breeze, did little to assist my cause and it was a real struggle to find anything worthy of a photo. I'd parked the van at the end of the Pinnock Wall and had walked all the way to the gateway, overlooking the main flood, seeing just singles of Banded Demoiselle, Black-tailed Skimmer, Common Darter and a Scarce Chaser for the effort. Lots of common damselflies along the route, but not what I was hoping for. It was on our return leg that I finally discovered a Wasp Beetle, nectaring on bramble blossom beside the track. 

Wasp Beetle (Clytus arietis) - certainly brightened the stroll with its' presence

This is probably the first time I've knowingly spent time with this very common insect and I really enjoyed playing around with the long lens and extension tubes. We probably hadn't walked another fifty yards when I disturbed a damselfly from the low vegetation beside the track. Obviously much larger than the numerous Azure, Blue-tailed and Variable Damselflies that were constantly on view, this appeared to be an Emerald sp? Not a group with which I'm particularly familiar, so I rattled off a dozen, or so, shots in the hope that I'd be able to get a positive id when back at my laptop.We slowly made our way back to the van, grabbing a few images of a freshly emerged Common Darter as we did so and that was it for our wandering.

A very co-operative individual

I have to admit that it was the Wasp Beetle which was star of the morning, for me, just a striking creature and most unexpected. So it was quite a while after getting home that I down loaded the images from the Canon EOS 90d and I started to become curious about the id of that Emerald Damselfly sp. It certainly didn't match the images I had available in my ancient reference guides. Next stop was Google, where else? This is when things became a litlle more exciting. My first impressions were that it was a Southern Emerald Damselfly, but there was a nagging doubt over the lack of a bi-coloured pterostigmata so there was only one course of action open to me. I emailed Marc Heath (Mr Kent Dragonflies) for an opinion. The exchange was quick and brief, resulting in a confirmed id and the additional bonus that it is the first to be spotted in the UK in 2025 - get in!

Unsurprisingly this represents a UK tick, although I feel sure that I've
encountered this species at several locations around the Med whilst on holiday.

This provides yet another demonstration of why it's more important to look, than actually know what it is your looking at.