Sunday 1 June 2014

Dragonfly Fest.

Once the unpacking from last week's trip to North Wales had been completed, tidying up done and lawn cut, I decided to make the most of the beautiful sunny day by grabbing an hour down at Buck Beck Ponds.  I was keen to get to grips with the Broad Bodied Chasers again and, hopefully, photograph the male in full colour.  When the male first emerges it is the same golden bronze colour as the female, but after a few days he changes to a fabulous powder blue with yellow spots on the side; a stunning insect.  As soon as I arrived I could see loads of activity; a male and female broad bodied were copulating in mid air and the female then dipped her abdomen in the water as she flew over the pond surface ovipositing.  When not attending to the female, the male insect spent his time challenging a four spotted chaser for squatting rights on the reed stem that I put in as a perch for them.

A wonderful hour or so of wildlife watching.

To view large, please click on an image.
Broad Bodied Chaser, Male
Broad Bodied Chaser, Male
Broad Bodied Chaser, Male
Broad Bodied Chaser, Male
Four Spotted Chaser
Four Spotted Chaser
Four Spotted Chaser
Four Spotted Chaser

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