Yesterday I broke my dragonfly photography duck, well today I smashed it and got an unprecedented (for me) 5 species in April. Typically in April I might get my first large red damselflies, and I may have seen 1 or 2 more species in later days of April before, but 5 species is a new…
A few photos from 2012 of a Migrant hawker dragonfly in flight
LAst autumn I managed to get some shots of tandem pair ruddy darters in flight as they were laying eggs. None came out perfect in focus and/or sharpness but they are OK viewed at for web size. I also got a standard perched male shot.
Back in June I came across this emperor dragonfly egg laying in the RSPB’s pond at Wat Tyler Country Parks.
Another thing that turned up in my river sampling was this beautiful demoiselle nymph. I placed it in my photographic aquarium and managed some close ups of this alien look creature. In this photo you can see the large ‘horn’ behind the eye which distinguishes it from the related banded demoiselle. I found it among…
On Sunday I popped into RSPB Rainham Marshes in hope of finding some water voles. I had no luck but did find a couple of cooperative migrant hawker males. Sadly the light was not so cooperative m, with the sun increasingly dissappearing behind clouds, and doing so as the dragonfly hovering in front of me!…
While at Dungeness on Saturday I came across a migrant hawker that had settles on a gorse bush. It stayed still while I got some close ups too. I also came across this clouded yellow butterfly. A kestrel posed, though a little distantly. A keeled skimmer sat on the path. A black necked grebe (as…
Yesterday I had my annual trip to Thursley Common, the most species rich site for dragonflies and damselflies in the country. I managed some nice photos, including these black darters (my first of the year) which posed for some shots. The black mature males were flighty and I only managed this shot of one. Some…
As its the British Dragonfly Society’s National Dragonfly week I thought I’d celebrate by posting about a species a day of these marvellous insects. First Up the Magnificent Emperor Dragonfly Anax imperator Its our largest dragonfly growing to 78mm in length and with a wingspan of 106mm, though some argued the female golden ringed is…
A couple of weeks ago I was watching a female emperor dragonfly ovipositing (egg laying) in a pond, when an azure damselfly started mobbing it. I took some video of it happening and 2 other instances and have put them together in the video below.