Emerald Damselfly... a gem of a day !

You know how when you work all week, you look forward to getting out on a weekend. Saturday morning however I was losing my mojo. Friday had seen a month's rainfall ( second deluge in 10 days ) and It was dull and breezy. I had dreamt of seeing 3 species in particular all week. Scarlet Tiger Moth, Marbled White Butterfly and Emerald Damselfly. I even had a little route planned out. In the end I chucked my stuff in the car and headed out around 10.30
My first stop was to try and catch up with a colony of Scarlet Tiger Moths at Hartlebury. They had been seen earlier in the week, but that was before the previous days drenching.
Arriving there, initially there was no sign, but after a few minutes of weak sun I picked one out, then 2, and ultimately 4. Absolutely stunning ! Although not especially active, when one did move I was treated to that flash of Scarlet. Good start !

Scarlet Tiger Moth

However, before long it started to rain quite heavily. I decided to move to my next location, to check for Emerald Damselfly, down at Smite Farm. I was hoping also to put a few miles between myself and the rain.However for the next 90 minutes it was pretty much non stop, and I was confined to the car, popping out to check the pools during a brief cessation before returning to eat some lunch.
I was considering packing it in for the day but as Monkwood was only 15 minutes away, I decided to head there and play it by ear.
As I pulled up at the Green, something odd happened, the Sun came out !! I shone for the next 2 1/2 hours, and it all kicked off !!
Firstly the Green. Burnet moths and Silver y. Plenty of Ringlets and Meadow Browns and then, Marbled Whites !  Lepidoptera heaven

Silver y Moth

Six-spot Burnet moth

Marbled White Butterfly

Having chased all the species I could find and photograph for an hour or so, I headed to the Nature Reserve up the lane, to check the pools. I was just applying the DEET, when I had a text from JK ' Just had Emerald Damselfly, Monkwood'...He had apparently had the same thoughts as me ! I replied I was a 10 minutes scout march away

At the Pool, JK and his good lady were there, along with Loyd, another fellow nature lover it was nice to meet. I was ushered straight to the single but utterly beautiful Emerald Damselfly, resting on a reed. What a stroke of luck ! Mrs JK had apparently spotted it, great find !

Emerald Damselfly..what a gem !

JK and Bev moved on, and I enjoyed 30 minutes at the pool, watching the Damselfly, along with the Broad Bodied Chasers and White Admirals that were frequenting the area. What a great day it turned out to be in the end .

Nice to see the Under wing, White Admiral