Dragonflies from Dunyeats Heath
I took a visit to a local pond and heathland at Dunyeats Heath, to scout out how the dragonflies were doing prior to taking some people there on a trip.
The day was hot and sunny – so ideal to see how many were about. I spotted several species there ( as is normally the case ), and as well as some photographs I took the opportunity to some video in 4k too. These images should be classified more as close ups as they were mostly taken on 300mm and 100-400mm lenses due to the Dragonflies being so active in the heat.
First the photographs.
On the approach – this Migrant hawker was spotted in the gorse.
And this photo – whilst not the best – shows a female chaser depositing eggs on the fly.
This Four-spotted Chaser was very co-operative and features prominently in the video.
And lastly some shots of some Keeled Skimmers
And finally the video.
Hello. Nice photos and thanks for sharing. Re – female chaser depositing eggs being a bit blurred. Do you think that the cause was camera shake, due to water reflections or the camera’s inability to focus? I took a range of shots of a female on surface of the water recently and all were a bit blurred. I think that my old camera’s autofocus could not lock on accurately because the lighting was very harsh and there was too much reflection from the water? Have you found that this has created a problem for you at times?
Thanks
Hi. Thanks for your comment. I think this was a problem with two things. The dragonfly is moving and the shutter speed was 1/400 seconds. It’s most likely this speed is not enough to freeze the dragonfly in flight. Secondly the focus is slightly off. I can’t remember whether is was using autofocus or manual focus at the time. Using autofocus can sometimes be an issue when the lens can focus on something else. Some cameras have autofocus presets, that can be set to focus on different things. Using animals is better with these.