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Image-of-the-Day by Subject
Dragonflies & Damselflies Page 18
Image Taken on 07 Aug 2008
at 15:33 Image of day on 20 Aug 2008
A female Common Darter dragonfly warming herself on the back of a
garden seat, positioned herself vertically to catch the
sunshine. A newsletter recipient tells us this is called the
obelisk position, normally used at midday
to keep cool.
.jpg)
Ref: 20080820_da1_20080807_1533_047 common darter female 2 positioning herself to warm in the sun(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 05 Sep 2021
at 13:31 Image of day on 19 Oct 2021
After a slow start we have been seeing quite a lot of Hawker and (here) Darter Dragonflies.
Hawker Dragonflies generally fly about catching prey as they go, but Darter Dragonflies
choose a well placed stick end where they wait for some suitable midge to fly by, dart out
to catch it, and then (the useful bit for a photographer) often return to exactly the same perch
a few seconds later. Here this one returns - over the 300mS of the left 3 pics the legs move
from full folded for flight to fully extended for landing.
Undercarriage Down!
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20211019_df3_20210905_1331_172-174+176 common darter female flying to land on top of stem 1-3+5 of 5 (spread montage @7fps)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 27 Aug 2024
at 16:35 Image of day on 11 Oct 2024
This female Common Darter Dragonfly was perched on the rather unattractive top edge of an old
Satellite dish of pierced grey-finished steel that serves as a safety lid to our incinerator
ring of weldmesh.
.jpg)
Ref: 20241011_d72_20240827_1635_184 common darter female on edge of junked satellite dish(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 20 Sep 2020
at 12:08 Image of day on 06 Nov 2020
A lovely old lady - a Common Darter Dragonfly, seeing out her days.
.jpg)
Ref: 20201106_d73_20200920_1208_039 common darter female over mature(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 31 Aug 2025
at 10:27 Image of day on 20 Oct 2025
A poor year for Dragonflies here, so particularly pleased to see this female Common Darter
landing on the top of a bunch of thistle seeds heads. It took a moment to find the insect
remarkably well camouflaged against the vegetation.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20251020_r70_20250831_1027_042 common darter female over mature perched on thistle seed head (crop)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 26 Aug 2007
at 15:14 Image of day on 21 Sep 2007
Darter dragonflies are smaller cousins of hawkers (see
18 Sep 2007) but no less beautiful.
.jpg)
Ref: 20070921_d01_20070826_1514_272 common darter male dragonfly(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 12 Sep 2010
at 14:35 Image of day on 08 Nov 2010
As the season advances dragonflies generally get tatty wings from
encounters with thorns etc. They continue to fly fine with quite
extensive damage - we are glad there are no nerves in dragonfly wings.
This Common Darter Dragonfly female is now past breeding and is
photographed with the actual teasel plant she was netted on.
Her head is turned bit toward the camera with her left eye at the top of the head.
 in flight with teasel netted on (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20101108_da1_20100912_1435_068+1444_081_ft1 common darter overmature female (torn wing) in flight with teasel netted on (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 26 Sep 2023
at 15:40 Image of day on 12 Nov 2023
One of several Common Hawker Dragonflies that spend time on this
corrugated iron sheet, this female gives a double dose of her lovely
wings - the real wings echoed in the shadow on the iron.
.jpg)
Ref: 20231112_df3_20230926_1540_063 common hawker dragonfly female on sun warmed corrugated iron(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 11 Sep 2006
at 13:21 Image of day on 21 Sep 2006
Some of the beech tress have lost leaves to caterpillars. This
Dragonfly finds this bare treetop a useful perch.
.jpg)
Ref: 20060921_d10_20060911_1321_107 common sympetrum dragonfly on beech bud(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 29 Oct 2006
at 12:53 Image of day on 02 Nov 2006
This pair of coupled Common Sympetrum Dragonflies spent some time
laying eggs in the adjacent pond & warming themselves in the sun on a
patch of dry grass where they are surprisingly difficult to spot if you
don't see them land.
.jpg)
Ref: 20061102_p34_20061029_1253_733 common sympetrum dragonfly pair in tandem on grass(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 20 May 2020
at 12:43 Image of day on 18 Jun 2020
Over the meadow area there are dozens of these Azure Damselflies.
This is a male in flight.
.jpg)
Ref: 20200618_d73_20200520_1243_013 damselfly azure male in flight(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 21 Jul 2021
at 11:09 Image of day on 28 Aug 2021
We last saw an Emerald Damselfly in 2010 - 11 years ago.
This female landed a few metres up a tree and this is the best pic we could get.
In the 2010 session we took images of both sexes in our 'flight tunnel' - you can see them at
26 Sep 2010 and
2 Oct 2010.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20210828_d73_20210721_1109_128 emerald damselfly female (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 15 Aug 2010
at 14:10 Image of day on 02 Oct 2010
In 26 Sep 2010 we showed you a male Emerald damselfly brought
to us for some technical photos (see previous description).
To complete the study we photographed some more males and
this female.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20101002_da1_20100815_1410_011+1521_149_ft1 emerald damselfly female in flight with ornamental rush (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 20 Aug 2025
at 16:18 Image of day on 07 Oct 2025
Emerald Damselflies are infrequent visitors, only previously seen by natural arrival in 2021.
This species rests naturally with wings partially open.
In the [Image of the Day (View Archive by Subject)] and the [Ultraviolet (UV) UK Survey ...]
(both linked from the home page) you will find images from 2010 for an insect brought to us
by the Bucks Dragonfly recorder for some technical and in-flight photos
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20251007_d72_20250820_1618_040 emerald damselfly female on twig with wings partly open (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 20 Aug 2025
at 16:19 Image of day on 07 Oct 2025
From the opposite side of the stick we catch this beauty opening and closing
her wings while perched. The montage is 'accurate' and the insect was perched
for both instances rather than preparing for flight.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20251007_d72_20250820_1619_049+1620_054 emerald damselfly female on twig with wings varying in position 1+2 of 2 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 08 Aug 2010
at 14:43 Image of day on 26 Sep 2010
And taking a final fly before going back to the waterside
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20100926_da1_20100808_1443_037+1436_016_ft1 emerald damselfly male in flight with hop sedge (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 08 Aug 2010
at 14:39 Image of day on 26 Sep 2010
A male Emerald Damselfly brought to us for some technical photos
of the blue 'pruinescence' (a powdery substance that rubs off) &
went on to provide some delightful images before release.
The Hop sedge looks a bit strange but that is how it goes - there
were hundreds like this with very similar strips sticking up and down.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20100926_da1_20100808_1439_028_ft1 emerald damselfly male on hop sedge (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 22 Jul 2012
at 15:36 Image of day on 31 Aug 2012
Here we accidentally caught a moment of flight between patches of the pond
weeds where she was laying.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20120831_df1_20120722_1536_081 emperor dragonfly female flying between laying (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 23 Jun 2008
at 19:41 Image of day on 07 Jul 2008
The Emperor Dragonfly is big with 10cm wingspan
and absolutely beautiful intricate body and wings.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20080707_p34_20080623_1941_234 emperor dragonfly female hanging on pond grass (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 23 Jun 2008
at 19:19 Image of day on 07 Jul 2008
Soak in the detail - on the original you can see the
segments of the compound eye.
.jpg)
Ref: 20080707_dc1_20080623_1919_041 emperor dragonfly female head detail(r+mb id@576).jpg
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