Banded Demoiselle at Sunrise

Having watched a pair of Barn Owls in recent weeks hunting locally, I become aware that in the stream nearby, there were a number of Banded Demoiselles flying. Having watched them to go to roost on a few evenings, I decided that I would like to take the opportunity to see if I could photograph them at sunrise, ideally producing a set of images with the Demoiselle and sun both together. In order for this to work I spent some time looking where the sun would rise early morning and suitable perches that would work in the photo. The next few evenings were spent watching them to going to roost and on one evening, a male Banded Demoiselle landed on a convenient perch with its wings open allowing me to rattle off a few shots. I would have liked to have produced a few better images but I was quite pleased with the result.

Male Banded Demoiselle at Sunset

Before I left on Friday night, I managed to find a female Banded Demoiselle after sunset roosting and carefully placed her on one of my chosen perches. I just hoped that she would remain there overnight and that if the weather forecast was correct, that I would have an opportunity to photograph a cracking sunrise with the Demoiselle. Saturday morning and I was up at 3.45am and driving over to Nethergong where after getting all the gear ready, I was soon set up. The good news was that I could see the Demoiselle still in place and even better, there was some dew on her and a spider had made a web on the grass, slightly bending it over and adding to the effect. As I could see the horizon start to light up as the sun started to rise, I started firing off a number of shots, changing my position every now and then to put the sun into a different position in the photo.

Female Banded Demoiselle at Sunrise

The colours through the viewfinder were superb and on some occasions, I had to rest, such was the brightness of the sun. It wasn't long until the sun gained height and my time was over but I sat back in the grass for a while and reviewed the shots on the camera. I was pretty pleased with some of the initial results and having worked through and processed some now, I think I may have achieved what I set out to do and there are a number of photos I am really chuffed with. I may have another go at this as I think it produces some superb photo opportunities and to be out photographing such an event early morning is a real priviledge.  

Female Banded Demoiselle at Sunrise