Bugs Dragonfly Thread

First two or three "French" Damselflies, taken in next door's front meadow - they still have the concrete storage "ponds" that were used to collect the spring water coming down the hill plus a small "stream" - unused now but I was surprise what "lives" there.
So the habitat is fresh water, really quite still but with a constant small flow in and out. I never saw any of the three touch the water, (lilies),- they hung around on the vegetation around the edges

Now for the job of naming them and updating my first post

Taken with my "birding" lens - I have started to experiment with the MF Nikkor 55mm Micro f3.5 with my G1 and V1 …….. but the subjects are not that keen on me getting that near.

I think these 60mm, 85mm and 105mm Macro lens are OK …………. but I need to be at least a meter away to have a successful shot, so maybe I will look at the 150mm Sigma or 200mm f4 Nikon Micro

Excluding the Blue - the other two look like The Large Red Damselfly, (Pyrrhosoma nymphal) - but they seems to have blue legs, so unsure

DF_FR_2.jpg


DF_FR_1.jpg
 
Green Lizard, (Lacerta viridian) I believe - about 15 inches long - shuffled up to me when I was sat by the stream taking some Damselfly shots

Took it with another Camera which was set at f4 ……. next time I need f8 to get the guy as I have a narrow DOF

He ran off like a shot once I moved, apparently they bite - quite a large "garden" lizard for France

Green_L.jpg
 
newly emerged Common Darter

I came across this Common Darter having almost completed its emergence this morning. In this first shot it still has its wings "closed" over its abdomen in the manner of a resting damselfly whilst it completes the process of inflating and drying off its wings.

14225985070_089710c65d_o.jpg

140613-1010251
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr


In a process that takes just a couple of seconds it then opens its wings at right angles to the body, never to return them to the position in image 1 during the rest of its life.

14432743083_411210aed6_o.jpg

140613-1010255
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr

Barrie
 
Common Darter?

Bill, Darter yes, but I rather fancy it's a Ruddy Darter, a species I've never seen since it occurs further east in the UK than my location. If you look at the abdomen your insect has rather more of a waisted abdomen than the Common Darter I've posted above. Also it has all black legs, a field mark for the Ruddy Darter. The Common Darter has a yellow stripe down the outside of the legs, your example does not show this feature. I would also suggest that the black line running across the front of the face, an area known as the frons, continues down the side of the eyes, which it would not do in a Common Darter.

So I would conclude Ruddy Darter Sympetrum sanguineum

Barrie
 
Bill, Darter yes, but I rather fancy it's a Ruddy Darter, a species I've never seen since it occurs further east in the UK than my location. If you look at the abdomen your insect has rather more of a waisted abdomen than the Common Darter I've posted above. Also it has all black legs, a field mark for the Ruddy Darter. The Common Darter has a yellow stripe down the outside of the legs, your example does not show this feature. I would also suggest that the black line running across the front of the face, an area known as the frons, continues down the side of the eyes, which it would not do in a Common Darter.

So I would conclude Ruddy Darter Sympetrum sanguineum

Barrie

Thanks Barrie - Ruddy Darter then - Page 274 of Dijkstra
 
I was told by a man with a loupe and a Stetson it was a common darter. He looked like a bug hunter so I took his word for it. The shot was subject to a bit of processing, so the colours might be a bit off.
 
Something sort of new!

I visited some moorland pools today, hoping for some acid water loving species, but no such luck, although I sort of saw a new species for me, and another I haven't seen for many years. It might be just a few days early for the specialist species to have emerged.

14443307722_6e1f2aa083_o.jpg

140617-1010271
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Probably my best ever shot of a Large Red Damselfly, an uncropped image


14421535076_68ee922f53_o.jpg

140617-1010274
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
I'm pretty certain, having consulted a key for exuvia, that this is the exuvia of a Common Hawker Aeshna juncea, a species I've not seen before. There were two large Dragonflies, restless, never settling and keeping their distance, which would be characteristic of this species


14443543704_549022aac1_o.jpg

140617-1010283
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Four-spotted Chaser, a species already featured on this thread, but one I've not seen for many years. This is a maturing male, the blackish area on the abdomen will spread as it reaches maturity.


Barrie
 
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