Shropshire - Dragon and Damselflies

An excellent couple of hours at a private site produced my first images for the year of Emperor Dragonfly...

A bright blue male...

Four-spotted Chaser...

Female Black-tailed Skimmer blending in with the vegetation...

Azure Damselflies copulating...

Also on show, male Variable Damselfly...

A pair of Variables, seen here mating...

And the female Variable by herself...

Male Red-eyed Damselfly...

A female Blue-tailed Damselfly (infuscans form)

Two styles of copulation, both Common Blue Damselfly...

Plus a female Banded Demoiselle...

Whixall Moss - White-faced Darters

The floods may not have been an obliging place for the Spotted Redshank due to distance but after taking loads of soon to be deleted images taken from the Canal towpath, I figured the Moss may be the place to be?

There were some stunning fresh looking White-faced Darters just waiting for me!

I don't think I've ever photographed two together?!

Two pairs mating!

Fun in the scum with another pair mating, plus a couple of Moss specialities...

A Raft Spider waiting for dinner to be served?

Plus an unexpected Common Lizard paddling away!

Maybe my favourite?

They are always worth paying an annual homage....

Shropshire - Downy Emeralds

The heavy metallic monsters of the Dragonfly world, otherwise known as Downy Emerald are alive and flying once more in Shropshire air space! Two sites visited recently provided opportunities for images...

This damsel was wowing the new green eyed arrival!

This species is one of the trickiest for resting images as it instinctively flies high in the adjacent trees!

But with patience and two hours of hoping, I managed to get just one opportunity at head height!

In complete contrast all I could manage at site no 2 was flight images!

This was a looong hot session of four hours or so...

But well worth is to get those amazing eyes in the viewfinder...

Job done!