It's proving to be a good season for the local emperor dragonflies. I've seen them at several ponds locally, and today spent an hour watching them.
After last night's extraordinary few minutes with the foxes, this evening found one youngster in the last of the daylight. These are the first daylight shots I've taken of any of them. 
Camera note: all dragonfly shots, and the first fox cub shot, taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. the second and third shots of the cub were taken with the EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens
13 Comments
That bucket does indeed hold a certain fascination!! 😆 I see why those are called emperor dragonflies now! Great!
The cubs are growing, that`s obvious now :awww: 😀
As for dragonflies, I haven`t seen them in ages but remember one year about ten years ago, they flew around like a birds :faint:
Anonymous writes:
Those daytime fox shots are just great. What an adorable expression. — Marilyn
It's a good year for dragonflies here too. I'll have to do some reading and find out what kinds we have, there seems to be a wide variety in colours.
I love the fox gnawing on the bucket!!
Poor bucket :right:
Great shots of the emperors. I must start looking for the UK's summer wildlife soon (although, a daddy-long-legs spider has appeared in the usual corner of my room, so I suppose that's a beginning).
Darko, it's good year for the dragonflies. I love watching them fly (but really tricky to photograph as they're so quick).
Marilyn, thanks!
Vulpes, the foxes are very playful… flowerpots, buckets, they've even brought a tennis ball into the garden. No shoes yet, but no doubt in time 😉
Lois, beyond some of the more obvious species I have real difficulty identifying dragonflies. The emperors are quite distinctive, but the smaller damselflies can be difficult to tell apart.
Adele, it's a tough old bucket! It was good to come across a well-behaved emperor.
Great photos. Ive not seen an emperor dragonfly this year yet, not in the UK anyway.
We've had quite a few emperors locally, but I'm yet to see any darters.
Great shots