The 'Perfect' Emergence!

I was up quite early this morning where after a cuppa and breakfast, I went to check the pond to see if any Large Red Damselfly nymphs were in the shallows. I counted 4 that looked like they might emerge during the morning if it warmed up enough. About an hour later around 8.30am I checked the pond again and noticed 1 nymph had its body out of the water. I went and prepared the camera and tripod but the only problem was the background was a brown fence which did not make for a nice shot. Not wanting to move any stems around I went and got some green card for a background which at least was a little better than the original brown colour. With drink and food at my side, I settled in for a short wait and after a few testing shots and sorting out settings, the Large Red Damselfly started to climb up the stem. This emergence could not have been any better and as the title suggests, this for me was the perfect emergence. The nymph still had its caudal lamellae attached which made for a better photo and I spent the next hour taking a number of photos of the various stages of the emergence and just watching this miracle unfold in front of my eyes. It very much helped having the use of the tripod as all I needed to concentrate on was the focusing, something no doubt that will cause issues later in the season when you are trying to balance with the camera in awkward situations. Having said that, I am very pleased with the results and now have a complete set of what I was after with this challenge. With more to emerge weather permitting, will I be back to improve on them? I'm sure I will! 

Large Red Damselfly Emerging