Dragonfly
and Damselfly Pics 2011
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Migrant Hawker, Shellingford Pit, Oxon
3 October 2011
What an extraordinary year for dragonflies! A superb start
back in April, then pretty dreadful weather for most of the
summer, and now these final(?) few glorious days in October.
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Common Darter, Shellingford Pit, Oxon
3 October 2011
See above.
There were a few dragonflies at this site, which is literally
dying now for lack of water. Only two small pools left, with
all the rest dry. A great shame.
Click pic to enlarge
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Beautiful Demoiselle, Ober Water, Hampshire
31 July 2011
Quite good conditions for dragonflies at this New Forest
site, but there was no sign of my target species - Scarce
Blue-tailed Damselfly.
This Beautiful Demoiselle was some compensation.
Unfortunately it moved off before I could get really sharp
pictures, but the background is nice and clean.
Click pic to enlarge
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Azure Damselfly, Ober Water, Hampshire
31 July 2011
A species I have surprisingly only one other, old photograph
of.
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Small Red Damselfly, Cothill Fen, Oxon
30 July 2011
Another Oxon rarity - Cothill is the only known site in the
County for them.
A hand held macro shot, but shame about the crossing stalk in
the background!
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Keeled Skimmer, Cothill Fen, Oxon
30 July 2011
This is an Oxon rarity - one was patrolling the small pond,
on my first visit to this acidic site.
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Common/Highland Darter, Bridge of Grudie, Highland
13 July 2011
Highland Darter is no longer regarded as a separate species,
but this is a presumed immature of this sub species of Common
Darter, given its location.
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Common Hawker, Loch Coulin, Highland
13 July 2011
Close up of the maturing male.
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Common Hawker, Loch Coulin, Highland
13 July 2011
A maturing male.
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Golden-ringed Dragonfly, Aultbea, Highland
12 July 2011
An obliging specimen "crashed" in the garden of our lodge.
Click to enlarge
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Golden-ringed Dragonfly, Aultbea, Highland
12 July 2011
The view from above. Both these photographs were taken with
the EF 100 macro.
Click to enlarge
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Downy Emerald, Thursley Common, Surrey
2 July 2011
A reasonable number of these were around the Moat Pool, in
the brief sunny spells. Also Keeled Skimmer, terneral Black
Darter from the boardwalk etc, but no sign of Brilliant
Emerald which was the main purpose of this trip.
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Emperor, Shellingford Pit, Oxon
11 June 2011
An interesting head-on view - getting sharp shots of any part
of a dragonfly in flight is not easy, even with the supposed
merits of the new EOS 7D's AF system! Despite a 1/2000 sec
shutter time, the wings are still slightly blurred.
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Broad-bodied Chaser, Shellingford Pit, Oxon
11 June 2011
A mature adult now, almost a month on from the terneral shown
below. A few dragonflies were showing today at the sheltered
end of this pit, including Black-tailed Skimmer and Emperor
(see above).
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Broad-bodied Chaser, Shellingford Pit, Oxon
14 May 2011
A cool day for dragons, so I was surprised to find this very
early immature in a sheltered corner, away from the water.
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Hairy Dragonfly, Otmoor, Oxon
25 April 2011
An excellent and very early start to the new season with this
Hairy Dragonfly - a species I have been after better pics of
for sometime now.
Thanks to Peter Barker for spotting this one, which didn't
stay settled for long.
These two pics were hand held and unfortunately it has
disappeared by the time I was fully ready with tripod and
extension tubes etc!
Click on pic to enlarge
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Hairy Dragonfly, Otmoor, Oxon
25 April 2011
See above
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© All pictures
copyright Stephen Burch |