Dragonflies - Communal Thread

xmh said:
Nice shots Bill, love the Violet Dropwing.

I think the Damselfly is a White-legged Damselfly female (Platycnemis pennipes)
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Thanks Jerry .............. yep that's it, The Blue White-legged or Blue Featherleg

(there is also an Orange white-legged or Orange Featherleg - which are also quite common out here)

here's the Orange White-legged - but I usually see them both by the River D, rather than the lake

Orange.jpg




The Violet Dropwings are gradually moving North - there is a French site that tracks them - so you may get them in the UK some day

http://www.onem-france.org/trithemis/wakka.php?wiki=TrithemisCarto

we are at the third farest North red dot - two together
 
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@BillN_33 I would say you are right with the Southern Skimmer.

That Dropwing shot is an absolute stunner, I would love to see this amazing species and get a shot as good as that.

Also, Jerry @xmh is correct with the White-legged Damselfly.
 
xmh said:
Looks like they still have away to go :) before they get to the UK. Seriously thinking about travelling South next year to see them.
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Maybe bill will rent you a room. :D
 
A couple more from S Africa - did not have my proper kit with me - so images could be better

Just interesting to see and compare with UK/France

I think? - Trithemis - Jaunty Dropwing .....

Unfortunately I only had one shot and buggered it up as I had the lens set at f4 for a bird high up in a tree

f4.jpg



Navy Dropwing

Navy.jpg
 
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xmh said:
Looks like they still have away to go :) before they get to the UK. Seriously thinking about travelling South next year to see them.
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I can only find them in one place locally - but there are usually maybe half a dozen + cruising up and down the lake edge and always coming back to the same perches
 
Bill..Absolutely wonderful images. I had no idea that dragonflies had such a variety of stunning colours.. You really get close and personal with them..Lol.

I did have a go with dragonflies once but we get too many windy,breezy days and overcast skies but I bet you don't have such problems when in France.

Just an afterthought. We're off to Brittany in August for three days staying with friends and my wife is in training mode to do a charity run there with a friend and she said she will run round the lake.Seems there's a large lake there so I'll take an appropriate lens. I have the Canon 180mm f3.5 but it's too much to take with the 17-40 for the Milky Way..there's no light pollution where they live. Then the 100-400 for the buzzards I'm told sit on the telephone poles and don't bother to fly away when approached as their cousins do in Cornwall (our holiday destination twice a year)..lol. so.. I'll take my Canon 70-200 f4..it's very light. We're flying to Dijon (I think..I'm sure it's Dijon) so no car.
 
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JohnC6 said:
Bill..Absolutely wonderful images. I had no idea that dragonflies had such a variety of stunning colours.. You really get close and personal with them..Lol.

I did have a go with dragonflies once but we get too many windy,breezy days and overcast skies but I bet you don't have such problems when in France.

Just an afterthought. We're off to Brittany in August for three days staying with friends and my wife is in training mode to do a charity run there with a friend and she said she will run round the lake.Seems there's a large lake there so I'll take an appropriate lens. I have the Canon 180mm f3.5 but it's too much to take with the 17-40 for the Milky Way..there's no light pollution where they live. Then the 100-400 for the buzzards I'm told sit on the telephone poles and don't bother to fly away when approached as their cousins do in Cornwall (our holiday destination twice a year)..lol. so.. I'll take my Canon 70-200 f4..it's very light. We're flying to Dijon (I think..I'm sure it's Dijon) so no car.
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Thanks John

There are some really good shots on here, mine are not exceptional and I think that you will find most of the guys use a "long lightweight lens" 300mm and 400mm .......... as wide fvalues are seldom used because of their shallow DOF ....... older manual MF lens are also good

The book Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe by Klaas-Douwe B Dijkstra ....... it will tell you were you should see each species - it is cheap and in my view essential

The habitat is important and many species prefer one type of habitat, i.e still water v running water, dirty water v clean water.

Good luck, they are really interesting and a good supplement to Bird photography

Here's another of my favourite images

A Broad Bodied Chaser, (Libellula depressa)

If you are interested the word "Libellula or Libellule" is the italian/french name for Dragonfly

Golden_2.jpg



and here the detail that you can easily get - I took this with a Nikon V1 ........ getting the DOF "right" is another matter

Golden_3.jpg
 
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Thanks Bill..I'll take a look at that book. I like that name..Libellula. Easy to remember too.

As you say, many superb dragonfly photos on here including your last two here. I suppose you could say re. the last photo that they are having a head to head..Lol. I'll use my 100-400 then and the 70-200.. My wife has just returned home and tells me that by the bridge over the narrow river very close to where we are staying in France there are small otters so it's sounding better day by day. I can't imagine I'll get to see any of them ,though. I've only been twice with her to visit her friends but she pops over there several times a year. She can ask them if there are particular times when the chances of seeing them are good.
 
JohnC6 said:
Bill..Absolutely wonderful images. I had no idea that dragonflies had such a variety of stunning colours.. You really get close and personal with them..Lol.

I did have a go with dragonflies once but we get too many windy,breezy days and overcast skies but I bet you don't have such problems when in France.

Just an afterthought. We're off to Brittany in August for three days staying with friends and my wife is in training mode to do a charity run there with a friend and she said she will run round the lake.Seems there's a large lake there so I'll take an appropriate lens. I have the Canon 180mm f3.5 but it's too much to take with the 17-40 for the Milky Way..there's no light pollution where they live. Then the 100-400 for the buzzards I'm told sit on the telephone poles and don't bother to fly away when approached as their cousins do in Cornwall (our holiday destination twice a year)..lol. so.. I'll take my Canon 70-200 f4..it's very light. We're flying to Dijon (I think..I'm sure it's Dijon) so no car.
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The 100-400mm makes a great dragonfly lens, especially the mk11
 
Another Blue White-legged or Blue Featherleg Damsel, spotted yesterday

They are minute ........ or my old eyes are getting worse

Blue_F.jpg


saw lots of Blue Emperors yesterday on a canal that enters the R Garonne, but they hardly settle and were just too fast for me


Here's a poor shot taken at a distance, but interesting, a few more Damsels for you to ID

ID_please.jpg
 
Really good images Mark and you can see what habitat conditions they prefer

(Habit is described perfectly in "The Book")

TFS
 
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Sorry - double post. Nothing happened then it appeared twice
 
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Beautiful Demoiselle - Female

Beautiful_FM.jpg



Beautiful - Male

Beautiful_M.jpg



I think that the above show the limit at which you can use a 300mm lens versus a macro lens

The above were taken with a 300mm lens

Damsels are small - and I reckon that you need a true macro lens + other kit., to get better detail and sharpness
 
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Double post also - strange - I think that it was because of the slow internet response
 
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@Bill, I think your blue and orange form white legged damselflies are male and female of the same species.
Small red-eyed damselflies have taken off at Westhay Moor in Somerset. Fewer there this year than last but still quite plentiful at this time of year. Here's one I snapped yesterday.

DSC_8671 by Mike D, on Flickr
 
eccles said:
@Bill, I think your blue and orange form white legged damselflies are male and female of the same species.
Small red-eyed damselflies have taken off at Westhay Moor in Somerset. Fewer there this year than last but still quite plentiful at this time of year. Here's one I snapped yesterday.

DSC_8671 by Mike D, on Flickr
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Thanks Mike

but there are two different ones listed

The Blue Featherleg, (White-legged Damselfly) - (Platycnemis pennies) - Page 132
and
Orange Featherleg, (Orange White-legged Damselfly) - (Platycnemis acutipennis) - Page 135

which do you think the above are? - the Blue or the Orange?
 
@Bill, p..pennipes females are predominantly white, with the immature form having slight orange colouration in the thorax. I believe both your images are of p. pennipes.
Cheers,
Mike.
 
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@chris, the tail has a proboscis between the claspers, and there is a noticeable waist at the top of the abdomen. In common with many other dragonflies, females' abdomens are thicker.
 
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I'm not going to pretend this comes close to the quality of other images on here, but I'm fairly certain this is a common darter. Taken at Greylake in Somerset yesterday with my Tamron 70-300mm, out of the window of a hide so I couldn't get any closer and had to settle for some very tricky focussing and a huge crop. At iso 1600 it's a bit noisy as well but I wanted enough dof to get as much of it as possible in focus and a fairly high shutter speed as it was being blown around in the wind. It stayed on that stem for ages, just occasionally flying off, performing a very tight circuit and coming in again, before it finally flew off for the last time. I'd seen other dragonflies but they were too flightly to grab a photo of. I just liked the background and the way the light was falling on this one.


Common darter by Jannyfox on Talk Photography
 
Nice shot. The image is sharp enough to take the crop and still look good for web display. And it has the advantage that you have a greater depth of focus than you would have done had you got closer. You're right that it's a common darter. I can't see a spur on the underside of the lower abdomen that would denote a female so I'm guessing it's an immature male. The fact that it continually returned to the same spot would back that up as males are more territorial than females.
 
eccles said:
Nice shot. The image is sharp enough to take the crop and still look good for web display. And it has the advantage that you have a greater depth of focus than you would have done had you got closer. You're right that it's a common darter. I can't see a spur on the underside of the lower abdomen that would denote a female so I'm guessing it's an immature male. The fact that it continually returned to the same spot would back that up as males are more territorial than females.
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Many thanks for all that. I can usually manage the ID but I didn't know about the male/female/terretorial thing. I've learned something.
 
Unknown on my Pond today- quite small about the size of a common Darter- any ID would be great

Sony a77 Mk2 and Sigma 105mm f2.8 Macro lens


Unknown Dragon 2 by Les Moxon, on Flickr

Les
 
Common darter - female I think.

Yellow stripe on legs distinguishes it from the ruddy darter which has black legs.
 
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