Butterfly Robbery by Dragonfly!

On the 1st July, I visited Higher Hyde Heath again to see what was around, mainly on the damselfly front, with the hope of spotting some other interesting bugs.  The visit started well as I went round the top lake to find again several damselflies out and about.

I was please to see this Emerald damselfly, which was nice enough to post still, so I was able to shoot 3 seperate F4 photographs, and then stack them later on in Photoshop to achieve a nice depth of field, whilst still getting a nicely blurred background to the shot.

3 Shots stacked of an Emerald Damselfly.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.  ISO 400 F4 1/250.  Natural Light with Tripod.

Nearby I found this ( probably Azure Damselfly) on a grass stalk.  I got up close and personal taking this macro photo with my close up lens – the MPE-65mm at about 2:1.

Damsel up Close. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon MPE-65mm Macro Lens.  ISO 100 F11 1/250.  Flash from Canon MT-24ex macro flash.

Nearby on some gorse was some blackfly aphids, which were being attended to by some ants.   I set up my tripod and took the next shot of this single ant tending its aphid “cows”.

Red Ant tending to Aphids on Gorse.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.  ISO 400 F8 1/60.  Natural Light with Tripod.

And on finally to the title of this article…moving down to the bottom pond on the reserve, I noticed some Silver-studded blue butterflies on the nearby heather clumps.  Attempting to get close to a good looking individual proved fatal to my chances of a shot, and literally to the butterfly.  It flew off into the air, and as I turned to look to see where it went, Whooomph! a dragon took it in mid air!  This is the culprit – a keeled skimmer – seen here munching its prey.

Keeled Skimmer with Butterfly Prey.  Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.  ISO 400 F7.1 1/250.  Natural Light.

Map of Location.

Small Car Park is on site.