Had an absolutely fantastic day at Staverton Lakes today, courtesy of DavyG and Anita - top class guides! I'm really grateful to you both as nothing beats having someone who is familiar with a site show you the ropes. Plus eagle-eyed Anita was great at spotting the willow emeralds!
They are incredibly beautiful insects and these are my best photos of them:
Ladies first...
...and the male...
A close-up of the male's head and thorax...
As Davy mentioned above, the willow emeralds are far from the only species there. We saw lots of common blue damsels as well as migrant and brown hawkers and ruddy darters. There were a wealth of other insects too - six species of butterfly (small white, green-veined white, red admiral, comma, speckled wood and meadow brown), oak bush cricket, field grasshopper, all sorts of hoverflies, various bees, a number of moths I couldn't put a name to and a bug I haven't yet identified.
Here's a picture of Davy suffering for his art...
That's not just brambles he's standing in, it's a large patch of sting nettles too!
Dave P.