Thursday 17 April 2014

My First Large Red Damselflies of the Year

With temperatures a little warmer than yesterday and quite a few Large Red Damselflies being reported now around the county I decided on a visit over to Stodmarsh to see if I could locate any. On arrival it was quite warm and a few minutes later I was in the area concerned but despite a good search I could not locate any. I had a quick wander around the alder wood area and managed to see 1 Hairy Dragonfly, my first on the reserve this year. I then spent a few hours over at Shuart near Reculver where I was able to watch and study 3 Hairy Dragonflies, all males with one individual posing really nicely for the camera, I shall post these shots tomorrow. On my way back to the car I received a text from Sue Morton telling me that she had some Large Red Damselflies in her garden in the pond. With an hour to spare I drove over to Westbere where I joined Sue looking for the damsels. In a good search we managed to find 3 Large Red Damselflies, one mature male which showed well for some photos and 2 that were still drying out hanging on to their exuviae.

Large Red Damselfly

A search of the pond revealed c20 exuviae which is good news that they have bred in the pond with individuals I suspect wandering off after a day or so to the main lake area.

Large Red Damselfly Exuviae

Hopefully weather permitting I shall return at the weekend. This gave me my real first opportunity to us the Sigma 150mm macro lens and I was not disappointed even though the sun had decided to go in and the clouds rolled in.

Male Large Red Damselfly

I need to get to terms with the depth of field and this will come with practice but the initial results were very encouraging. All shots were taken handheld and hopefully with a beanbag which I left at home or a monopod the results will be even better.

 Large Red Damselfly

As mentioned earlier I shall post some Hairy Dragonfly shots tomorrow which again I was able to use the macro lens for, hopefully the results will be just as encouraging.

Male Large Red Damselfly

3 comments:

  1. Pretty, and the best, lovely photos Marc.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A great start with the new lens Marc

    ReplyDelete
  3. Some brilliant shots there Marc, depth of field is always an issue when close in on the subject, just cant get enough :-) No Dragons or Damsels here yet, but should be some very soon - cant wait ;-)

    ReplyDelete