Tales from a small pond. Unusually this year I have had a decent number of Damsels emerging from the rather murky depths of the garden pond over the last few days. To date there have been at least 5 confirmed Large Reds, traced by finding their exuviae and sending the tenerals up by blundering into their hiding places.
I have dipped the pond and there are still a few left and a number of Southern Hawkers which should be making an appearance soon.
The job of finding the small Damsel exuviae has been made considerably easier by the arrival of a pair of Pentax Papilios which are brilliant for dragons, butterflies and all things small. It has lead my wondering if there have been more emergences of Damsels in past years but I have overlooked them due to a combination of poor eyesight and a desire to get the big boys in the lens.
It is a certainly a lot easier to spot the Southern Hawkers and they are also more spectacular and easier to photograph which means they do get more attention paid to them. I will try to be more attentive to the Damsels in the future.
It is amazing what you can see when you sit still and really look around you. I spent a very happy hour or so on Sunday watching and photographing an Orb Spider which took a liking to my binoculars so most of the photos have the spider running over them. In addition everything I put the bins on seemed to be mating which leads me to think they know the summer is going to be poor so are desperate to do the deed before they expire from the cold. I will make sure I get out and about as whilst the weather allows it.
More pics to follow shortly.
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