By grebe42
This dragonfly only has a latin name Aeshna cyanea and yet it's one of the commonest species (at least according to my insect book). It basked in the sun for a long time so I was able to get several shots. I thought at first it was an emperor dragonfly but it's the wrong colour.
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Lovely shot, you are having much better luck than I am with dragonflies this month!
Thank you, I’m glad you like it. I was incredibly lucky to have seen it at all as it was quite high up. I was trying to get a shot of a butterfly which flew up high. I then saw the dragonfly. I had to stand on a chair to get on a level with it. I was doubly lucky in that the sun was late coming out after a cold night. Otherwise I don’t think I would have had a chance at 10.16. It stayed so long I was able to change the macro lens for a macro lens plus 10mm extension tube in order to get some closer shots.
Great capture. Very impressive shot.
Thanks Tim. I really enjoyed taking photos of this dragonfly as it was obviously in no rush to go anywhere and I could concentrate on getting the right image. Caroline
Have just discovered from a book on damselflies and dragonflies that I was browsing on Amazon that this dragonfly does have a name – it’s a Southern Hawker which is the same one that jcopley showed emerging in his amazing time lapse sequence. The book by the way is “Britain’s Dragonflies: a field guide to the damselflies and dragonflies of Britain and Ireland” by Dave Smallshire. The pictures are very clear unlike those in my insect book. Or I may be wrong and it’s a female Emperor dragonfly.
Just wondering if your booked arrived and is it worth buying?
Definitely a Southern Hawker. The femaie Emperor has a yellowish green thorax, possibly with some blue. Great shot. You’ve done well to keep all the body in focus, especially given the very shallow depth of field you get with macro plus extension tube.
Thank you for your kind comments. I didn’t use the extension tube for this shot but for the later ones where I got details of sections of the dragonfly. I found I couldn’t photograph the whole dragonfly at once with the extension tube in place. Thank you also for the identification. Once my book (see above) arrives I should be able to identify any dragonflies or damselflies I see.
The book arrived and is definitely worth buying. There are identification charts where the wings, head, thorax and abdomen of each dragonfly, damselfly or demoiselle are illustrated and described. There is also masses of information on each, where they are to be found etc and pictures of the larvae. If you want to identify these lovely creature I would say that this book (see my comment of 30 Aug) is indispensable. There’s even a book in the series on day-flying moths – I didn’t know that there was a great enough variety of those to fill a book.
Brilliant, one to put on my Xmas list! Thanks for the info.
Caroline can I check please is this the book?
http://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/britains-dragonflies-a-field-guide-to-the-damselflies-and-dragonflies-of-britain-and-ireland-britains-wildlife-revised-and-updated-ed/9780691161235
Brilliant shot of a dragonfly. I still haven’t managed to capture one myself.
Jan, yes that’s the dragonfly book and Eddy thanks very much for your kind comment. Keep trying for that dragonfly shot – I nearly missed this one as I said above. I don’t know how much longer they’ll be around for this year but maybe if we get some warm weather it’ll be for a little longer. I’m sure there are more of them around this year or maybe it’s just that I haven’t really noticed them before because I haven’t been trying to photograph them.