Damsels

Azure Damselflies

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Insects are out and about!

Small Copper

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Common Blue

Orange-tip

Green-veined White

Four-spotted Chaser

Azure Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

not sure about this one...

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Insectorama

Bumbling bees

Silver-Y (check out the curly tongue)

Large Red Damselflies

Broad-bodied Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

Red-eyed Damselflies

Azure Damselflies

Ichneumon wasp with scary-looking ovipositor (not a sting)

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Hurray for the damsels and dragons!

Common Blue Damselflies

Azure Damselflies

Large Red Damselflies

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Four-spotted Chaser

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Aquatic life

It's too hot and humid at the moment for me to stay out for long. I preferred foggy Norfolk, to be honest. But here are a few images from a quick lunchtime wander.


Waterlily


Azure Damselfly cleaning its bottom


Azures mating


Large Red Damselfly

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

The Lodge

Large Red Damselflies laying eggs

Bee in a poppy. They seem to go mad for the copious pollen

Female Azure Damselfly

Mushroom

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Damselday

Azure Damselflies


Large Red Damselflies

Today I had the intention of mowing the lawn, planting some vegetables and doing some weeding. I managed to get the runner beans and courgettes sorted out, but didn't have much success with the rest.

Why not? Well, it's warm (21 degrees!) and humid, which makes gardening hard work. And loads of things kept appearing and making me get my camera.

First, a Common Blue butterfly, but that had disappeared by the time I returned with the camera. Next, an Orange-tip (which didn't stop) and a series of Painted Ladies which kept on migrating north.

On the pond it was damselfly day. The number of Azure Damselflies reached 9, but only a few lucky males seemed to have females attached (literally) to them. A couple of pairs of Large Red Damselflies were egg-laying.

It's been good to see that the male Whitethroat seems to have found a mate, who spends her time creeping about in the cow parsley around the edge of the garden (glad I didn't chop it). And a female Yellow Wagtail came to have a bath in the pond. She liked it so much she came back for another dip.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

What goes in, must come out

We got the pond dug and filled in time to receive our first batch of damselflies and dragonflies last spring. Nearly one year on, our first home-grown damsels are emerging!

It's been grey and grotty all day here today, so I didn't expect to see this when I got home. Two Azure Damselflies had emerged and were clinging to the Yellow Flag leaves, right next to their exuviae. Poor things. I wonder what triggered them to do it today? It's far from ideal damselfly weather. I hope it doesn't rain too hard overnight - they could easily get washed in and drown.

Photo taken with Canon Powershot A640

Battle for pond supremacy

The pond has excelled itself today (OK, I've only had it for two weeks).

I'd gone outside with the intention of photographing Meadow Browns on the lavender, but found a battle in progress:

Broad-bodied Chaser...

versus Four-spotted Chaser

I know which one's prettier, but neither seems to have won control of the pond so far. There was a lot of chasing (as you'd expect), clashing of wings and hovering over the pond.

They were joined by three Blue-tailed Damselflies

An ovipositing pair of Azure Damselflies

The number of Pondskaters has doubled... to four. And two of those were fighting (I think).

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640

Poolside

With hot weather and little time to spare, the swimming pool at The Lodge is the place to be...

I love photographing Emperor dragonflies. Above: females ovipositing (egg-laying)

Males are much harder to get a shot of

Azure Damselflies

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Red-eyed Damselflies

Four-spotted Chaser

I was buzzed by another low-flying object, so they got their picture taken

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM