Sunday 5 April 2015

A Soft Spot for this Species!

With a bit of time yesterday, I spent a while photographing the Brown Hawker nymph which continues to do well in the tank. I must admit I have a bit of a soft spot for this species. I have caught lots of Emperor Dragonfly nymphs but to date, this is the only Brown Hawker nymph I have managed to catch. This is one of the hardest dragonfly species I find to photograph, rarely sitting still for long periods of time and creeping up on them has not been that successful either. Thankfully after lots of effort last year I did get a few shots of them. I have managed to watch this nymph hunting quite a lot now in the tank and its strike rate is pretty good and certainly a sight to watch as it strikes out for its prey. I hope to continue to rear this individual through the summer, not sure if it will emerge this year or not but on size, I would imagine next year unless it grows quickly in size. As far as hawkers go, I think the Brown Hawker is one of the most striking to look at, hopefully the photos show this off well. Good news also today where from my pond this afternoon, a Large Red Damselfly decided to emerge during out family Easter lunch which caused a panic as I left the table and took a few shots. By the time I started shooting, its head and thorax were already out but I will post some shots hopefully tomorrow of this special event which even my family thought was 'superb'. 








Brown Hawker Nymph

4 comments:

  1. Your walls in your house must be filled with photos, I love it all.

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    1. If I had my way Bob, I would have more photos up around the house. Unfortunately though, my wife has other ideas!!

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  2. A white frost here on Sheppey early this morning, wonder if that has affected emerging damsels.

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    1. No doubt it will have some sort of effect. Its sunny this morning here, hopefully if it warms up, there may be some more emerging. Some others reported yday around the country as well emerging.

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