Among the frequent visitors to the dew pond at work are broad bodied chaser dragonflies. I've been waiting for them to appear for the past couple of weeks. Fabulous on the wing, they are a blur of motion most of the time, but occasionally cease circling the pond to hover briefly, and in the case of the female to lay eggs. They occasionally come to rest at the side of the pond.
There were two pairs out today, and out of the many shots I took there were about a dozen that came out ok… enough to start a Dragonfly album.
Camera note: the photo was taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
Words
22 May 2008Lois, thanks. I'm really looking forward to when they really get going this year. There are usually several other species there, but so far they haven't emerged.
cakkleberrylane
22 May 2008Awesome photo!
Dudley
22 May 2008Great!
gdare
22 May 2008Looks so unreal :up:
Ukwildlife
22 May 2008Lovely photo. The dragonflys seem to be late emerging this year, or I have a bad memory of last year. Ive seen broadbodied and hairy dragobflys in Kent, but none anywhere else, despite looking yesterday
SittingFox
22 May 2008I'm yet to see any dragonflies at all, but I live in a very dry area and we never have many. Great picture! 🙂
zetorres
22 May 2008Another great post, Words! Amazing photos!
Words
22 May 2008Thanks Andy!
Words
22 May 2008Adele, the larger ones certainly need a decent sized pond as the larvae take two years to develop. You need to find a pond!
Words
22 May 2008Neil, I checked back on last year and most of my decent shots of broad-bodied and darters were in June/July, so there's time yet I should think. There were some around last April, but that was about the hottest April on record so all sorts of odd things were happening.
Words
22 May 2008Darko, thanks (I think) 🙂
Words
22 May 2008Thanks ZT!
Vulpes vulpes
24 May 2008Great pic!
Words
24 May 2008Thanks!
Ukwildlife
24 May 2008I've had a look and ive actually seen dragonflys earlier this year! 😮
My first last year was about this time of year (a hairy) and the first emperor was start if june, not maya s I thought. So the next month should be interesting 🙂
Words
24 May 2008Yes, June/July is the peak period from what I remember. Looking forward to it!