Toutes fraîches

Toutes fraîches

Leucorrhines 

La saison à enfin repris dans le Maine et Loire le 9 avril avec les Nymphes et Cordulies.

J'ai pu assister a beaucoup d'émergences de Cordulies du début à la fin c'est une première pour moi.
( Je suis en retard pour le recadrage...)

Avant hier j'ai eu la surprise de rencontrer les premières Leucorrhines , elles étaient 5 à essayer tant bien que mal de secher , ce matin j'en ai vu 1 bien courageuse car 6°, avec la grêle de cet apres-midi pas sur qu'elle résiste.

La tourbière est complètement à sec pas de libellules à Charcé pour le moment.

Voici la belle pour Morikan

Laurence

Quand la Cordulia va...

Cordulia aenea 
Downy Emerald


Tout va ! Si les émergences semblent un peu marquer le pas, froidures matinales obligent,
Cordulia aenea fait le boulot, et on la rencontre émergente, immature, ensuite
adulte confirmée (ah ces yeux émeraude) en vol, hélas aussi accidentée de l'émergence...
Images du 18 au 24 avril.

Morikan

Cordulie : aussi...

Cordulia aenea

Downy emerald

Il n'y avait pas de raisons pour qu'elle ne fut pas précoce : premiers individus
observés le 11 avril, tout à fait correct ! Voici dons un petit florilège de la belle
dans ces jeunes heures, dans les dernières phases de ses émergences,
certains clichés ne précédant le vol virginal que de quelques secondes...
Avec le retour des fraîcheurs matinales, plus rien ne bouge, attendons
la deuxième vague... Images des 11, 16 et 18 avril.

En bonus :

Le premier Gomphe de la saison, Gomphus vulgatissimus, Gomphe à pattes noires,
dégustant un moucheron. 20 avril.

Emerging Hairy Dragonfly

Hairy Dragonfly

Brachytron Pratense 

Having checked the pond again yesterday morning, I could see a female Hairy Dragonfly nymph already quite a way out of the water taking in air and hoped if the conditions were good, that she might emerge during the evening. After a day or thinking if this was going to happen, I went out again just before dark and could see she had moved up the reed and looked likely to emerge. The colours on this nymph were quite superb and looked like she was going to burst. After preparing the flask and snacks, I went and got set up early and settled in to a comfortable position. One of the signs that they are going to emerge is once they have chosen a favorable perch to emerge on, they often violently move their abdomen around to see if there is enough clearance for the dragonfly to expand its wings and abdomen. This can be a worrying time as they can often fall back into the water and if not quickly attached again to something, run the risk of drowning. With the lovely colours on this female showing through, this gave me a chance to capture this movement of the abdomen and after a while, she became settled and prepared to emerge. This waiting game can either be quite quick or quite a while but eventually she started to emerge and I was able to capture the emergence at every stage again. Every emergence is different and you just hope that the exuviae is connected well enough not to fall off as this would be fatal. After spending a couple of hours outside and the female Hairy Dragonfly nymph successfully emerged and with the wings pumped up, I made my retreat indoors and hoped she would still be there early morning for a few more shots. I was again up early and straight outside with the camera where she was beautifully coloured up next to the exuviae. I took a few more shots before potting her up and driving to the site I caught the nymph where I released her next to the waters edge. Later this morning I went out with the family and on return around midday, had a quick look at the pond and was surprised to see another female Hairy Dragonfly had emerged and also 1 Variable Damselfly. After some lunch, I potted them up and again made the short drive where they were released successfully. I think the other two Hairy Dragonfly nymphs in the pond are both males and I would like to photograph the whole emergence of the male as I missed my chance last year. They are both in the shallows waiting so hopefully the next couple of nights will deliver this challenge for me. 

Hairy Dragonfly (female) Emerging

Marc Heath

Très discret... moi l'Anax!

Hello les amis,

A l'occasion d'un affût piafs autour d'un point d'eau au milieu de nulle part en Espagne, Catalogne, j'ai eu la surprise de le découvrir hier à travers mon 800 mm émergé à 8h00 du matin! Un petit plus bien sympa pour ma journée photo!!
Bizzzz et bonnes chasses photographiques à tous et à toutes!

Anax imperator

Noushka

Simone et Léone...

Brachytron pratense
Hairy Dragonfly

Simone et Léone, les Brachytrones ! Suite à ma première rencontre de la saison
avec Cordulia aenea, sortie ce mercredi aux étangs forestiers, leurs fiefs :
mais non, pas de Cordulies bronzées, mais en revanche Brachytron pratense,
que je n'avais pas vu l'an passé, sans doute à cause du printemps pourri...
Deux femelles observées, une à contre-jour (1 à 3), l'autres sous le couvert, soleil
jouant à travers les feuilles (4 à 8)... Ah les filles ! Je les ai baptisées ainsi,
car 2 h à leur tirer le portrait, ça créé des liens... Ici les fins d'émergence, ayant
raté les débuts, mais sans trop de regrets, car au cœur de touffes de joncs...
Plus 3 exuvies, et un individu survolant les massettes d'où il venait d'émerger.
Intéressant de les voir si tôt, plutôt en mai d'habitude,
sauf un 14 avril en 2014. Images du 12 avril. 

Morikan

Large Red Damselfly Emerging in the UK

Large Red Damselfly

Pyrrhosoma nymphula

With temperatures in the past week reaching up to nearly 20 degrees celsius in east Kent, it was no surprise that a few Large Red Damselfly nymphs looked likely to emerge. A check of the pond most evenings have seen a number starting to take in air and with warm temperatures again today, I spent a good part of the day looking over the pond for any nymphs to emerge and my luck was rewarded when at 11.30am, a Large Red Damselfly nymph made its way up one of the stems I had provided. I already had the camera and tripod ready and settled down into a comfortable position to hopefully capture the whole emergence. The nymph took some time to settle down which gave me the opportunity to practice a few shots and move my pot of reeds nicely into the background to provide a natural colour to the shots. I then spent the best part of 4 hours taking a number of photos of the emergence and also making time to sit back and marvel at this miracle of nature in action. I had the odd break at times for drinks and lunch and returned every now and then to take a few more photos. I ended up with a very pleasing set of photos to start the season off and hopefully will have a few more opportunities with this species, ideally one with its caudal lamellae still attached would be nice. With a few weeks off work now and fingers crossed for some nice weather, hopefully the camera will be kept busy as the 2017 season gets under way. 

Large Red Damselfly (female) Emerging

Marc Heath