Yes, more dragonflies...

This gent didn't stay still long.

018 by Daniel Perlak, on Flickr

Amazingly I did manage a few of him in flight. He never faced toward me though, which is the shot I wanted.

020 by Daniel Perlak, on Flickr

He did find a 'friend' though in this lady.

030 by Daniel Perlak, on Flickr

They got lucky.

024 by Daniel Perlak, on Flickr

I think those were Migrant Hawkers. They are too brown to be Common Hawkers but not brown enough to be Brown Hawkers.

I think this is a Ruddy Darter (male).


010 by Daniel Perlak, on Flickr


011 by Daniel Perlak, on Flickr


012 by Daniel Perlak, on Flickr


014 by Daniel Perlak, on Flickr

Ruddy Darter (female)

Hunter and prey!

001 by Daniel Perlak, on Flickr

Another great set, Dan! I tried to get the elusive 'in flight' shot this week but didn't manage it as the one I found was moving the whole time and did not stop. Especially when getting territorial with another male..now that would have been some shot!

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Enough said.

What a great set. Love the flight and the detailed close up of the ruddy. The migrant hawkers seem to be out here in great numbers, plenty of mating too.... good for next generations...

I pre-set the focus on my DA*300 20 about 2m so it wouldn't have far to travel and then used AF-S. Still really hard as they really don't hover for long. Especially when there are other males or females nearby.

The weather looked poor so I decided I'd take my 540 FGZ II AW flash. Stuck a diffuser on the top for the close up shots with the DFA 100WR Macro. The close up is about a 50% crop at 100% so 2:1 magnification if you were to take the crop into account. I'll definitely be carrying the flash with me more often. Ran out of power though .

Each place I've been to to shoot dragonflies has different species (mostly National Trust properties/land), which is nice for the variety.

Saltram & Coleton Fishacre (Devon): Broad-bodied Chasers, near small ponds.

Dartmoor (West Okement river)(Devon): Gold-ringed Dragonflies, near small streams.

Dudmaston (Shropshire): Brown Hawkers and Common Darters, at the lake large by the house. I did see either a Southern or Common Hawker down in the woodland lake but it was too far away to shoot or ID properly.

Croome (Worcestershire): Migrant Hawkers and Ruddy Darters, throughout the grounds near the 'river' (is is a very long artificial lake).

Brockhampton (Herefordshire): Four-spotted Chasers and Broad-bodied Chasers, at a woodland pond.


Lots of Damselflies but as they are more common and numerous I don't find them quite as interesting .

In that case I am also attaching my example of dragonfly. It's a North American square-bodied "sucker" species, often found near medium or small hi-fi racks, as well as on mobile players

Thanks for the tip - I'll give that a try when I'm next out, hopefully later on in the week 🙂

They still make those or have you just had that a while?

Good luck! Hopefully you'll get some decent shots.