Dragonflies

 I went to Burton Mere RSPB reserve thinking that with the promised good weather there would be some nice opportunities to observe and photograph some birds. I did see some Egyptian Geese, some other wildfowl, a Great White Egret and even a Peregrine Falcon as well as various waders. However the light was awful and photo ops were very limited so I had to change tack and switched out my long telephoto zoom lens for my 100mm Macro lens instead,

I got a few strange looks from other visitors to the reserve who were looking to the sky and across the reedbeds and scrapes as I was crouched down peering into the reeds and thistles along the edge of the path. A few stopped to ask what I had found and some even seemed interested when I said I was photographing bugs.

I managed to get some nice shots of some small pollinators which I can share another day but I am too excited about this selection to leave these images for another time.

It is quite late in the year to see dragonflies as in many places they are coming to the end of their life cycle but in various parts of the reserve there were still a few to be seen. The Common Darter which is in the last few pictures was actually the first one I was able to photograph as it was resting on a leaf in a secluded pond sheltered from the wind.  Those shots were taken using my long lens and  from a fair distance so they are not as sharp or detailed as perhaps I would like. They're pretty good all the same.

The images I am most pleased with are of course the Southern Hawker in the first selection. This is a female and I had been told by another photographer that he had seen her trying to lay eggs on a particular section of path. It was on my way back to the carpark so en route I paused at the spot her had mentioned and waited. Just as he said it wasn't long before this little beauty flew out of the reeds and started to try laying eggs between the planks on the path and other places nearby, and although it was quite wary of me at first, after a few minutes she seemed more relaxed and came to rest a couple of times so that I could get right in close with my macro lens. 

It was very windy at times so the reeds were constantly moving, as I have mentioned the light was poor and lying down on the walkway was quite uncomfortable but regardless of this challenges I am really happy to have managed to get these shots. I hope you like them as much as I do.

Southern Hawker

Common Darter