Back for Sunrise

After my attempts the other morning at catching a Common Blue Damselfly with the sun rising in the background, I thought with quite a good forecast that I would try again for some more shots. Leaving home at 5.30am I soon arrived on site where it was a little cloudy and windy but I had hopes that a few opportunities would come my way. I set up the tripod and camera and went to the area I photographed the other day as it was a little sheltered and set about trying to find a few damselflies in the grass. I soon found a few and after a while I found a suitable subject which would hopefully provide some action. At around 5.55am the sky started to turn a nice orange/red colour and the sun started to appear. The sun only had a short while before it hit a bank of cloud so I had to work quickly, not the success of the other day but I was able to grab a few pleasing efforts. It was surprising how different the light was from different angles and the way it caught the damselflies body and wings was a nice sight.

Common Blue Damselfly at Dawn

All too quickly the sun had risen and was in the clouds but it soon appeared not long after but my job was done for today with the early morning shots. As the temperature was still quite cool I thought I would take a few shots of the Common Blue Damselfly as it caught the sun. I took a good few which I will save for another post but some time was used trying to capture the damselfly with its eyes either side of a thin stick. I have tried this shot a few times before but never quite catch it right but I managed a not bad effort which I was quite happy with. 

Common Blue Damselfly

I left the damselflies in peace and went for a wander and decided to walk a sheltered path lined with trees and bushes to see what was around. As I walked through the grass Common Blue Damselflies were on the move as was 1 Emerald Damselfly. I started to check the trees and soon found c10 Migrant Hawkers hanging up with a few lower down which provided a few shots for another post when it gets quieter. As I walked back towards the car I thought I would have a good check for Willow Emerald Damselflies, I found one the other day and thought maybe others would be around. I was rewarded for my efforts with finding 3 Willow Emerald Damselflies, about 150m away from the individual I found the other day so it look likely that this is the start of a small colony, fingers crossed. With this I was soon back at the car having seen lots of Common Darter and was home for 9am for breakfast. Looking at the forecast for tomorrow morning, it looks quite good for a sunrise and light winds too. With a few plans to put into action, hopefully I can get a few more of those stunning sunrise shots.