The Perfect Afternoon!

I made a visit to Westbere Lakes after work tonight at 4.30am where I spent an hour walking up to the river checking all the likely areas for dragonflies. It was near perfect weather, lovely blue skies, still quite warm and hardly any wind made for a pleasant outing. I was hoping for maybe a Broad bodied Chaser or Banded Demoiselle but despite a good search I failed to find any although I met John Cullen who had seen a Demoiselle a little earlier. It looks likely that the Banded Demoiselles are just emerging so maybe I will get lucky next time. Walking up to the river there were plenty of damselflies with c100 Variable Damselflies seen along with a couple of Azure Damselfly and good numbers of Blue tailed Damselflies. I managed to see 3 Hairy Dragonfly, all males busy patrolling the ditches and dykes and one in particular seemed to stay in a small area and come to rest a few times. I was soon in stalking mode and with a bit of patience and slow movement I was able to get into a good position to fire off a number of shots. Once again the Sigma 150mm served me well and continues to produce some quality shots, I don't think I will get a better shot than the first one below, I'm very pleased with this effort.

Male Hairy Dragonfly

I was able to get a few different angles on the dragonfly and with a nice background, it contrasted well for the shot. Hopefully later in the week I may be able to get out if the weather allows for a quick session and maybe some Chasers and Demoiselles will be on the wing.

Male Hairy Dragonfly