Sunday afternoon

A lovely Sunday afternoon lulled me back to Fishlake Meadows to try and photograph the large hatch of Four Spotted Chasers that I had seen a few days before. However, I was very soon distracted by the number of electric blue Demoiselles skitting around the canal in shafts of sunshine, both Beautiful Demoiselle and Banded Demoiselle flying together. Because I had half a thought there maybe Hobbies about, I had only taken my 400L lens and hoped it would double up as a close up. I hadn’t thought this through to carefully as the minimum focussing on this lens is around 12 feet, so when photographing insects in undergrowth it inevitably means there will be something in the way, but they were reasonably happy to pose in the open with a bit of patience and shifting about so I set about experimenting. Male Banded Demoiselles with the dark spot on their wings were my first quarry as they were in much greater abundance that day

This one in particular caught my attention as I have never seen one do this and I’m not sure what the waving was about.

Beautiful Demoiselles proved more difficult to find settled, but here is one with the more solid dark wings which sometimes look black, and sometimes electric blue depending on light and age.

Oddly we saw no female Beautiful Demoiselle, but lots of Banded although they were mostly a few yards away on a small ditch where only a few males were present, so this was a lucky picture to get them both together.

Despite the exotic and eyecatching colour of the males of both species, my favourite is the female Banded. It might just look green from a distance, but in the right light and close up it has most colours of the rainbow. Its dressed to kill and given its few days of reproductive capabilities, it has to be. Even if you are a bit squeamish about insects, there is no doubting the technicolour overload delivered in this small package.

and my favourite

Anyway, having dragged myself away from the canal and ditches, we walked a little further afield to the floods looking for dragonflies. Yellow flags were out in full flower as were the marsh buttercups, giving the whole meadows a hue of butter yellow

The Four Spotted Chasers I had seen a few days previously were curiously absent, well maybe not so curiously, as two Hobbies suddenly, and briefly appeared diving acrobatically for insects

Not great photos, but I was caught as much by surprise as no doubt the dragonflies were. However, there were plenty, mostly Broad Bodied Chasers which occasionally paused from there very busy business to allow a portrait. 

It is always a wonder to me how so much stuff is packed into a flying insects brain equivalent. Just to fly at all must require some considerable skills, but to fly like a dragonfly requires an advanced pilots licence. On top of that there is all the normal things like deciding on a mate, working out what is prey and what is predator and taking the appropriate actions, and choosing whether it is better to take out a repayment or endowment mortgage. I don't know who designed them, but they were good.

We also saw Emperor Dragonfly which refused to settle, indeed they refused to slow down from the 100 mph   passes across the ponds. I didn't even try to photograph them. 

In the background the odd Warbler sang, especially Sedge and Cettis, but from the depths of the reedbeds, rarely showing themselves. However, one particular Sedge Warbler decided bravery was the better part of valour and picked a willow sapling to sing its heart out from regardless of passers by (with odd pauses to make sure we were listening).

Azure Damselflies abounded although I was hoping for one of the rarer varieties, but nevertheless lit up the ditches

Several pairs forming the mating wheel added their romantic heart shaped bonding to the late spring fever, occasionally flying surprisingly stably in this formation, no little feat of aerodynamics

I know that at some time during our lives, we have all thought three is a crowd

Last, but not least, the Damselfly that I am most familiar with because it is the commonest one in my pond, is the Large Red Damselfly. I have a soft spot for them because in my garden, if you hold your hand out while they are flying over the tiny pond, they will frequently settle on you. It feels like trust although I know (assume) its just warmth. I still find my teenage children with hands outstretched over the pond even now, so they are ambassadors of the insect kingdom to me