Teneral Female Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense)

It was about 8am this morning that I casually wandered out into the garden with a cup of tea to check the garden pond and was surprised to see that a Hairy Dragonfly and a Broad bodied Chaser had already emerged and were taking in the early morning sunshine. This set me into a mini panic as I wanted to grab a few photos before they took off so ran indoors and grabbed the camera and tripod and quickly set up at the pond. I was able to move the Hairy Dragonfly first to my photography stick which is placed at the pond and provides me with a clutter free background if I so choose or I can change the angle if I want reeds etc in the background. She must have emerged early morning as her colours hadn't really come through yet and her wings were still closed. I worked quickly and managed to take a number of close images of this stunner in the early morning sunshine but also made time to put the camera down and study the fine details on her. After about 20 minutes, her wings suddenly sprung open and were soon vibrating as she got some warmth into them and then she was away to the nearest trees where hopefully, she will mature up before flying off to water to breed. I then had to work quite fast and was able to take a number of photos of the Broad bodied Chaser which I shall post in the next few days. A busy start to the day but very rewarding indeed.

 

Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) - teneral female