The Large Red Damselfly Nymph

After contacting a friend about a visit to their pond to look for Large Red Damselfly nymphs and with the sun shining this morning, I arrived mid morning armed with nets, trays and pots etc. I made a few visits last year to this same pond and saw a few Large Red Damselfly emerging and managed a few shots but never have really found and studied the nymphs of this species. It only took a few seconds before emptying the weed into the tray to see a few nymphs showing themselves and thankfully after putting them into a pot to look at through a magnifying glass, it was nice to see and study my first Large Red Damselfly nymphs. They were quite large in size which you would expect as they are our first damselfly to emerge and were probably not far off being fully grown. After reading about some of the features it was nice to see them in real life, the caudal lamellae having a distinctive pattern showing an X on it. I continued on for a while catching c15 and with permission from the owner I took a few home to put in the tank for some photography sessions, these will be returned back to the pond in due course. I then spent an hour or so later in the afternoon where I was able to grab a number of images of them, some of them turning out quite well but as most photographers will tell you, we are always looking for better than last time. Pond weed added to the background makes for a nice contrast in colour but getting all parts of the damselfly in focus when you want to can be very challenging.

Large Red Damselfly Nymph

Most of the time is spent waiting for 'that' shot and when they do move into a good area for a shot, they can often move off quite quickly. Another pain today was small scratches on the glass and the inside of the tank having slight dirt and stuff on it. This was then highlighted in the shots when the flash went off. I shall have to clean the inside more and make sure no hidden scratches are in the shots. Anyway mission partly accomplished and I hope I can have another go maybe tomorrow to see if there is any room for improvement. Yet more learnt today and of course, very nice to be able to see, study and photograph these damselflies which in a while will be emerging as adults, hopefully with my camera somewhere nearby to capture the action!

Large Red Damselfly Nymph