Delightful Damselflies

 I delight in watching damselflies as they fly through the long grass of a meadow or amongst pondside reeds. They can be quite tricky to photograph, especially if, like me, you are reliant on automatic focusing. They are worthy of close attention and here are a few images of damselflies and a dragonfly taken during July and August in a wealden wood.

White-legged Damselfly (Platycnemis pennipes) (male)

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (female, drab form)

Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa) (male)

Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis)

This female fortuitously landed on this willow stem as I was photographing the ovipositing scars left by another female.

The female of this tandem pair is ovipositing by injecting her eggs under the bark of the willow stem.

A tandem pair at rest.

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) (male)