Emerging Hairy Dragonfly

Hairy Dragonfly

Brachytron Pratense 

Having checked the pond again yesterday morning, I could see a female Hairy Dragonfly nymph already quite a way out of the water taking in air and hoped if the conditions were good, that she might emerge during the evening. After a day or thinking if this was going to happen, I went out again just before dark and could see she had moved up the reed and looked likely to emerge. The colours on this nymph were quite superb and looked like she was going to burst. After preparing the flask and snacks, I went and got set up early and settled in to a comfortable position. One of the signs that they are going to emerge is once they have chosen a favorable perch to emerge on, they often violently move their abdomen around to see if there is enough clearance for the dragonfly to expand its wings and abdomen. This can be a worrying time as they can often fall back into the water and if not quickly attached again to something, run the risk of drowning. With the lovely colours on this female showing through, this gave me a chance to capture this movement of the abdomen and after a while, she became settled and prepared to emerge. This waiting game can either be quite quick or quite a while but eventually she started to emerge and I was able to capture the emergence at every stage again. Every emergence is different and you just hope that the exuviae is connected well enough not to fall off as this would be fatal. After spending a couple of hours outside and the female Hairy Dragonfly nymph successfully emerged and with the wings pumped up, I made my retreat indoors and hoped she would still be there early morning for a few more shots. I was again up early and straight outside with the camera where she was beautifully coloured up next to the exuviae. I took a few more shots before potting her up and driving to the site I caught the nymph where I released her next to the waters edge. Later this morning I went out with the family and on return around midday, had a quick look at the pond and was surprised to see another female Hairy Dragonfly had emerged and also 1 Variable Damselfly. After some lunch, I potted them up and again made the short drive where they were released successfully. I think the other two Hairy Dragonfly nymphs in the pond are both males and I would like to photograph the whole emergence of the male as I missed my chance last year. They are both in the shallows waiting so hopefully the next couple of nights will deliver this challenge for me. 

Hairy Dragonfly (female) Emerging

Marc Heath

Large Red Damselfly Emerging in the UK

Large Red Damselfly

Pyrrhosoma nymphula

With temperatures in the past week reaching up to nearly 20 degrees celsius in east Kent, it was no surprise that a few Large Red Damselfly nymphs looked likely to emerge. A check of the pond most evenings have seen a number starting to take in air and with warm temperatures again today, I spent a good part of the day looking over the pond for any nymphs to emerge and my luck was rewarded when at 11.30am, a Large Red Damselfly nymph made its way up one of the stems I had provided. I already had the camera and tripod ready and settled down into a comfortable position to hopefully capture the whole emergence. The nymph took some time to settle down which gave me the opportunity to practice a few shots and move my pot of reeds nicely into the background to provide a natural colour to the shots. I then spent the best part of 4 hours taking a number of photos of the emergence and also making time to sit back and marvel at this miracle of nature in action. I had the odd break at times for drinks and lunch and returned every now and then to take a few more photos. I ended up with a very pleasing set of photos to start the season off and hopefully will have a few more opportunities with this species, ideally one with its caudal lamellae still attached would be nice. With a few weeks off work now and fingers crossed for some nice weather, hopefully the camera will be kept busy as the 2017 season gets under way. 

Large Red Damselfly (female) Emerging

Marc Heath

Willow Emerald Damselfly at Sunrise

Willow Emerald Damselfly

Lestes viridis

After the success A Few days ago at finding c80 Willow Emerald Damselfly at Nethergong, I wanted to return to see How Many others HAD Emerged and continued my study of this damselfly. Given I Had Myself a pair of targets for this session, Was one to photograph a Willow Emerald Damselfly at sunrise and l'autre Was to try to find a Willow Emerald Damselfly nymph That I Could put in my tank to photograph. I Was up early at 4.30am Where thankfully after-getting ready and checking the weather forecast, I Was off out of the house and driving over to Nethergong. The forecast suggéré clear skies early on with cloud building up so pleased I Was When I arrived to see quite clear skies to the east. The great thing about this site Being a campsite Is That You can drive around in the car and as I Had quite a bit of equipment with me today Including camera, tripod, net and tank etc, I made The Most cette and parked quite near to Where I needed to be. I did not-have to walk far and I Was confident I would be ble to find Willow Emerald Damselflies Some roosting and This Was the box as I soon found one resting nicely and set up the tripod and camera in preparation for sunrise. At around 5.15am the sky started to turn orange and red as the sun Prepared to Rise And Then A Few minutes later, the sun Appeared and I Began Taking a number of images.

Willow Emerald Damselfly (male) at Sunrise

There arent Many times I find better than photographing at dawn When no one is around and all you can see and hear is kind. Spider webs shimmer with early morning dew and the sound of buzzing wings in the fat Can Be Heard as the damselflies prepared to dry Their wings. Its just a magical time of the day and I never pulls of getting up early for Such a session, HOWEVER I do get tired later on in the day! After Taking a number of pictures I Decided to put the camera away and go for a walk along the waters edge to see what Could Be found. I Spent the next couples of hours searching the reeds for fat and damselflies and ended up seeing  c30 Willow Emerald Damselfly , Many HAVING just Emerged and c30 Emerald Damselfly. I found aussi c15 Willow Emerald Damselfly exuviae. There must-have-been over 100 Easily Emerged in the past FEW days and I hope many more will continue to emerge. To end the session, I Decided to-have a go at 'stream' dipping 'to see if I Could find and Willow Emerald Damselfly nymphs. The stream is mostly covered in floating weed and it Was Easier To drag Reviews some of this in with the net and have a look. After only the second Attempt I struck lucky and found a nymph, the first I have caught. Reviews This was put in the tank with plenty of weed and will be photographed in the next day or so at home Where if I am really lucky and keep checking, I May-even witness the emergence and photograph. A superb session once again with A Few quality pictures taken. Hopefully I will return in A Few days time again for some more action.

Willow Emerald Damselfly (male) at Sunrise

Mark Heath

'Newly Emerged' Hairy Dragonfly

Hairy Dragonfly

Brachyton pratense

I was just about to sit down and watch the television last night about 8pm when I quickly checked the pond to see if anything was happening. One of the Hairy Dragonfly nymphs had started to climb up the reed so I prepared the equipment and settled in for what I thought would be a good few hours. The nymph got into position and spent the next 30 minutes stationary. I took a few photos and hoped as this was a male, that I could capture the whole emergence again but when it started tail thrashing to make sure there was enough room to emerge, he fell off back into the water. I went back inside again and checked a little later to see he had started his climb again. Like before, he prepared himself only to fall back in the water again. With the time getting on, the best I could hope for was an early start and hoped that he would emerge early morning. I was up this morning at 4am and was soon at the pond to reveal that the nymph was still at the base of the reeds. I spent the next 90 minutes sitting outside in the hope that it would happen but alas, no movement from him. A couple of Chaser nymphs however looked like they were getting ready in the shallows and kept me occupied but not even they wanted to emerge. I decided at this point to go out birding for a while to Nethergong and asked my daughter to keep me informed when she got up in case there was any action. It was quite predictable I suppose when at 9am, I received a video call from Jasmine showing me that the Hairy Dragonfly had just emerged, typical! I was soon back in the car and arrived home 10 minutes later where I spent the next 30 minutes at the pond taking a number of pleasing photos of the male Hairy Dragonfly and exuviae. The light was superb, the wind was barely blowing and it was just a privilege to spend time observing and photographing this superb dragonfly. It was already quite warm by 9.30am and after a bit of wing buzzing , he lifted off to hopefully complete his life. I was very pleased I managed to make it for some photos, not quite the full emergence sequence I was after but to capture the dragonfly and exuviae together more than made up for it. Hopefully the Chaser nymphs will be next at some point during the week. I just hope I can photograph them before going to work. 

'Teneral' male Hairy Dragonfly

Marc Heath

A Hairy Dragonfly Emerges

Hairy Dragonfly

Brachytron pratense

For the past two years at least, I have wanted to photograph the iconic first dragonfly of the year that flies in the UK, the Hairy Dragonfly. I spent quite a bit of time last year trying to find individuals emerging early morning but only found a few exuviae of this species. I decided last winter to see if I could collect a few and rear them indoors in my indoor tank and at the right time, release them back into my garden pond ready for emergence. Like an expectant father, I have nurtured them through the winter, feeding them, changing water and observing and photographing them. I have learnt a great deal about this species but the hope was that I would be able to photograph this miracle of nature as it changes from nymph to dragonfly. Most literature I have read suggest that they emerge early morning but it was a great surprise last night when at about 9pm when I checked the pond, that I saw a nymph climbing the reed. I quickly set about getting all the equipment ready and armed with a flask, I positioned my self at the pond and settled in for what ended up to be 3 hours of watching and photographing. I was still sat in the garden at midnight but it was most definitely worth the time and effort to produce some of my finest shots yet I think. Just watching the process of emergence is truly fascinating but quite time consuming but I went to bed on cloud nine and hoped she would still be present early morning which she was. Before going to work, I took a few more shots and after she has warmed up, she made her maiden flight. Its so rewarding having had this plan and carried it through and along the way, shared the life of this secretive dragonfly through to being an adult. If I don't take any better photos this year, I will not be complaining, well I might, but I am over the moon with this set and achieved a long awaited challenge.

Hairy Dragonfly (female)

Marc Heath

A Broad Bodied Chaser Emerges

Broad bodied Chaser

Libellula depressa

Having missed a Broad bodied Chaser emerging a few days ago from the pond, I was keen to photograph this first for me with this species so knowing a few were in the pond, I kept checking to see if any looked like they would emerge soon. I was in luck and noticed an individual in the shallows which was well out of the water and even better, it had chosen one of my potted reeds that if necessary, could be removed to aid my photography. After taking a few shots, I planned to get up early this morning to see if I could photograph the emergence. Again the literature I have read suggested that they emerge early morning but not this one as when I checked last night just before 10pm, I could see it well up on the reeds and preparing to emerge. I wasn't quite expecting this so a rush later, I was in position with the camera and warned the neighbours that there would be some flashing from the garden (the camera, not me!) I quickly set up the tripod and using manual mode, ISO 400, speed set to 250 and in camera flash, I spent the next 2 hours photographing the spectacular emergence. I did feel a bit mad sitting in the garden near on midnight but on the other hand, totally privileged to witness this transformation while most slept unaware of what was happening. Once again, I was very pleased with the outcome of the photos and went to bed hoping that she would still be present early morning. This morning I was up at 6.45am where after getting dressed, I went outside where she had coloured up and once again, I took a few more photos of this stunning dragonfly. When I left for work, she was still at the pond but on arrival back home later, she had hopefully successfully made her first flight. Despite the long unsociable hours, what a sight to witness and photograph again and hopefully a few more will emerge from the pond in the next few days. Weather permitting although it doesn't look great for the weekend, I hope to venture out to maybe Westbere Lakes to see whats about and maybe grab a photo or two. 

Marc Heath