Dragon Fly

ike

Set myself a task of getting a good shot of a Dragonfly this summer. Friday evening was my second attempt. After about half an hour kneeling in the long damp grass, being attacked by 5 foot killer nettles and squashing 2 giant slugs with my hands (accidently) this guy finally played ball and posed for about 10mins oblivious to my presence a few inches away.

Thay are creatures of habit and if they do fly away they generally come back to roughly the same area within a couple of minutes

Difficult to get a pin sharp shot when handholding with a slight breeze, but I'm happy enough with this one, whatche think?

lafors

Looks excellent to me
I like the ones of the fly on your flickr too

Borderfox

Very nice Ike

YogiBear

Great shot. Where abouts would you go looking for one of these near Dublin?

shakeydude

Outstanding!!!

I thought you would have to be waiting for hours to get a picture like that. Did you research the fact that they will return to the same spot or did you figure that out from experience?

pvt.joker

Excellent shot, theyre a strange looking insect. Almost looks like a human face on it there

brianthebard

nice work op excellent pic.wonder if its possible to attract them with food or scents?
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ike

Thanks a lot guys appreciate it!

Yogi if you want to get a shot of one of these guys get yourself near a river or canal (or any body of water) and keep your eyes peeled and practise stalking! Parts of the Royal or Grand canal would be probably be ideal, they're pretty common, they like to perch on tall grass stems. Damsel flies are really common a bit smaller and have blue bodies.

Shakydude - researched it in the springtime and that seemed to be a common theme about them returning to the same spot - its nice when you observe it happening in reality as well. The first night I went it was a bit of disaster, but last night I spent more time watching than shooting

AnimalRights

Great picture and an even greater perserverence!

unreggd

Great shot!!!! I LOVE dragonflies!

Where in Dublin did ye find them?

There were some good fauna-finding supplements in the Guardian last week but forgot t get a copy

Heres one I got in Dubai



Cant wait t to go back and find more!

Redisle

Good Job! I love these flies too. I was over in Spain last year and these things were all over a little lake next to where I was staying, unfortunately I didn't have my slr then
Its true what you say, they don't seem to pay any attention to human presence, I was able to go right up to them in Spain without them flying away.. Hopefully next time I see one il actually have my camera with me

MartMax

nice shot Ike... the details of it are amazing... beautiful creature too

ike

unreggd wrote: »

Where in Dublin did ye find them?

Cant wait t to go back and find more!

Not in Dublin I'm afraid - not hard to find though, along the bank of the rivers, canals or lakes

tr33lo

That is a lovely shot but it's a damselfly not a dragonfly
well someone had to put you right

pixbyjohn

This one I shot in Kilquade garden centre last year