We made another trip out to Wakehurst Place today. There are several more photos in the album, but these are a tiny sample of over 300 I managed to take. The weather was glorious, but bizarrely about half my shots were taken in deep shade and I struggled to get any light on the subject at all. These included a grey wagtail, a thrush, a young great tit, and mainly a sequence of a demoiselle attacking a pair of mating red damsels.
The conditions were rather better at the large pond near the front of Wakehurst. The damsels were very much in evidence, to the delight of the a pied wagtail which was happily feasting. Some swallows swooped down low as well, but as ever were too fast to capture in flight. 
Pied Wagtail
I also grabbed some shots of my first emperor dragonflies of the year.
And my first ever photo of a red-eyed damsel.
Red-eyed damselfly
And yes, there were one or two ducks about as well.
Not that they were keen on the camera 😉
Good night!
Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
Dudley
9 Jun 2008Lots of life in that pond.
Great shots too!
FrogBoots
9 Jun 2008Just wonderful…especially the "ending!" 🙂
gdare
9 Jun 2008😆 @ last one 😀
Ukwildlife
9 Jun 2008Top photos. I havent seen an emperor or a red eyed yet, despite the fact my local lake last year had a few emperors and 100s and 100s of small and 'standard' red eyes. I shall keep my eye out now 🙂
Vulpes vulpes
9 Jun 2008Great – I like the bottoms up shot!!
Cynthia23
9 Jun 2008:up: Words! Great photos! Have a great evening.
Flying Red Fox Blog
9 Jun 2008Its been a lovelly weekend for going out, ui was at the Ardingly south of england show with my PHAB Club on saturday then at Hyde Park on sunday and it was great:D I have so many photos to srt out now with over 500 taken 😀
Lovelly pics, it too me a while to find the Ducks, they looked so well camouflaged in the Lillies. 😛
Words
9 Jun 2008FB, that was about the last shot I took while we were there. They were telling me something I think.
Words
9 Jun 2008Neil, they were both firsts for me. No sign of either at the local pond where we had numerous emperors last year.
Words
9 Jun 2008Vulpes, it kind of suited the moment :cheers:
Words
9 Jun 2008Mark, Ardingly is fairly close to Wakehurst I think. Perfect weekend for getting out. We'll both be sorting through photos for a while yet. I could almost do with a cloudy day to catch up! Well maybe not. Amazing how well hidden the ducks were.
SittingFox
9 Jun 2008Now that is a pond worth exploring! I know what you mean about shooting in the shade on bright days. I've been having similar issues photographing in the dark parts of the fox pen lately.
The ducklings are very good and nice behavioural picture of the wagtail :up:
Words
9 Jun 2008Darko, :up:
Words
9 Jun 2008Andy, the 'pond' is fabulous. Vast and beautiful.
Words
9 Jun 2008Cynthia, thanks. I think I spent most of the evening sorting photos!
Words
9 Jun 2008Adele. it's a fantastic spot and even when the place is busy it's fine. But there is a lot of shade. I guess it goes with being woodland. They really ought to do something about that!
cakkleberrylane
10 Jun 2008Spectacular photos!! Love the last one of the ducks!!
Words
10 Jun 2008Lois, thanks. It's a fabulous place to visit. The ducks are stars, and very bold and tolerant. Every time we visit we see toddlers chasing them!