We met up for a trip to a pond wellknown for its dragonflies. Rain in the air and rather chilly – so, our expert told us we would not see any dragonflies that morning… Ten degrees warmer and sun is the recipe.
We had all brought breakfast though, so we might as well hike up there and at least eat. Said and done.
After an hour the sun warmed up behind the clouds, so we were a bit lucky in the end. Not many dragonflies were patroling the water, but if you walked through the grasses on the shore, you were greatly rewarded.
Here are some of the critters that we found. We saw 6-7 different species of dragonflies/damselflies and some other beauties. The caterpillar will later evolve into a small tortoiseshell. Some sea birds were talking loudly, and the swallows came sweeping down as the mosquitos woke up. An enjoyable morning!
Click the gallery for more detail.
Amazingly small, but in a shining blue or red armour, striped or checked – we saw them dancing. I learned that many dragonflies live for a month or so, and some species live for almost a whole year – they even fly throughout the winter months here. If you want to hold one, it is the wings you should grab. They are not soft and velvety (as with butterflies), but stiff and hard. If you then set the dragonfly free, it will sit where you put it, silent for some seconds – and you have an excellent photo option!
Leya 
I tried to take a photo of a blue dragonfly the other day and I thought I did, but I can’t see it in my photo so obviously it flew away.
Well…that often happens to me. With butterflies and bees too. Trial and error!
Stunning photos! Very well captured 🙂
Thank you so much, it was a delightful outing.
Good to learn about these dragonflies! Amazing images!
Beautiful. We are seeing some about the garden pond these days too
Small really i beautiful down at the pond. Thanks for taking your camera!
♥
Fab! Blue ones, red ones, gold ones! And how to hold a damselfly…who knew?!
Always good to learn something new!
Indeed!
What fabulous photos, though how you get close enough to actually grab one amazes me.
Well…some cheating – you have to catch them in a net first…
A lovely way to start the day 🙂
It really was.
Oh, I love dragonflies! Fantastic photos❣❣
Thank you – and yet the really big ones did not appear!
Amazing I never knew that. Spectacular photos
♥ Learning new things is a groove of its own!