Head shots

Winter may be appearing on the horizon (see previous post), but dragons are still hanging on and in evidence when the sun is shining. They are a little more sluggish with the cooler temperatures, perching more often and for longer periods, allowing me to get fairly close and get these head shots.

Autumnal Dragons

Male Ruddy Darter

Male Ruddy Darter

Male and female Migrant Hawker (the male is the blue one)

Male and female Migrant Hawker

Male Common Darter

Male Common Darter

Male and female Common Darter

There are still a few dragonflies about, most notably when the sun is shining. As I have said in previous posts the Darters will be about for a couple of months yet,they are pretty hardy and it is lack of food which will kill them rather than the cold weather. I have often seen these buzzing around on sunny days in October/November and I have even seen Migrant Hawkers on warm days in December, although this has been an exception rather than the rule.

Mona Lisa

Okay, I know there are other famous ladies that have been painted, but I couldn't think of any off the top of my head, Bazza's blog here is the best place to go for art information.

This Painted Lady butterfly was in our garden on my return from work this evening, feeding on one of our Buddleia plants. This is the first time that I have seen one of these beautiful flutters this year and the first time that one has been seen in the garden since we have been living here. A welcome addition to the insect activity that we have been experiencing over the past week or so.

Other butterflies that have been seen in the garden include the Small and Large White, the Gatekeeper, the Holly Blue and Common Blue (although these two have just been fly through's), the Red Admiral, the Comma and the Peacock, this last one in fairly large numbers.

Peacock

Peacock

Red Admiral

Gatekeeper

We have also been getting our fair share of dragonflies, the more common being the Common Darter, but we have also had up to half a dozen Migrant Hawkers buzzing about feeding on flying ants.

Migrant Hawker

Common Darter

Common Darter

 We are now experiencing a 'summer' of sorts, it's just a shame that it is at the end of August!

There be Dragons!

All photos taken using hand-held Canon Powershot A640

Dragonflies are in abundance at the moment, none more so than the species in the above photographs, the Migrant Hawker and most abundant of all, the Common Darter.

Photographing these insects can be quite frustrating as they tend to fly at the slightest disturbance. The Common Darter, though tends to return to the same perch and so, you are able to wait in readiness, camera in hand and hope that you can rattle off a few shots before the beast flies away again. That is what I was able to do with the above photos and with the Migrant Hawker, I just got lucky!

I am quite pleased with these photos, especially the Common Darter ones. I know they aren`t anything special artistically, but they are pretty sharp.

You are able to catch up with these dragonflies for a while as their flight period lasts until October and in mild autumns the Common Darter has been seen in November and in rare instances, December.