eccles
21st of May 2007 (Mon), 16:08
A rather OTT name for these insects, but "beautiful demoiselle" is what they're called.
These are damselflies - damselflies can park their wings together across their backs, but dragonflies can't - but they're more agile than their smaller cousins and can sometimes catch their prey in the air.
They're fussy about the water where they breed, favouring fast runnning streams that are clean, so despite the odd shopping trolly, the brook where I found them is in surprisingly good shape considering it's in a suburban area.
They were both found slightly away from the stream, building up their strength, girding their loins so to speak. The females visit the stream to mate with waiting males and to lay eggs. But the males, when ready, will patrol their favourite spot at the water's edge, driving away competition. Paradoxically, while busy doing this they will sometimes ignore females who are at the water's edge waiting to mate. Beautiful maybe, stupid definitely.
This is a male:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/majorbludnock/beautifulmale800x600.jpg
And this is a female:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/majorbludnock/beautifulfemale800x600.jpg
Both shot with Canon S3 with HDK raw hack + 500D close-up lens.
C&C appreciated.
These are damselflies - damselflies can park their wings together across their backs, but dragonflies can't - but they're more agile than their smaller cousins and can sometimes catch their prey in the air.
They're fussy about the water where they breed, favouring fast runnning streams that are clean, so despite the odd shopping trolly, the brook where I found them is in surprisingly good shape considering it's in a suburban area.
They were both found slightly away from the stream, building up their strength, girding their loins so to speak. The females visit the stream to mate with waiting males and to lay eggs. But the males, when ready, will patrol their favourite spot at the water's edge, driving away competition. Paradoxically, while busy doing this they will sometimes ignore females who are at the water's edge waiting to mate. Beautiful maybe, stupid definitely.
This is a male:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/majorbludnock/beautifulmale800x600.jpg
And this is a female:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/majorbludnock/beautifulfemale800x600.jpg
Both shot with Canon S3 with HDK raw hack + 500D close-up lens.
C&C appreciated.