|
Dragonfly
and Damselfly Photos 2023
|
 |
Southern Hawker, Boundary Brook NR, Oxford. 15 September 2023
A real end of season feel to this nature reserve today, but I
did have some fun with this Southern Hawker that was patrolling
around the small Garden Pond for well over an hour. Lighting was
very variable from full sun to almost 100% cloud.
This
hawker was tricky to get on to, as it was almost continuously in
movement. However occasionally it would pause to hover
momentarily, allowing me just enough time to latch onto it and get
a burst of shots.
This head on shot was taken during
a sunny spell at ISO 3200.
Click to enlarge
With
autumn now having arrived in earnest, this may be my last
dragonfly session of the year. |
 |
Southern Hawker, Boundary Brook NR, Oxford. 15 September 2023
This oblique angle photo was taken at the end of my session
during a cloudy spell using a crazy ISO of 25,600! It is
remarkable how the latest AI based noise reduction tools can clean
this up. In this case I used DXO Pure Raw 3, followed by Topaz AI
NR.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Southern Hawker, Boundary Brook NR, Oxford. 15 September 2023
Without my customary x1.4TC on, these images seemed sharper
allowing substantial crops.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Southern Hawker, Boundary Brook NR, Oxford. 15 September 2023
A sideways on photo at a more sensible ISO of a mere 6400.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Southern Hawker, Boundary Brook NR, Oxford. 15 September 2023
Again this photo allowed a heavy crop.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Migrant Hawker, Faringdon Folly Park Pond, Oxon 6 September 2023
Not a lot was posing for photography at this site today. There
were only 1 or 2 Migrant Hawkers and they weren't generally being
at all obliging. This shot was from the only moderately close
approach this one made.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Willow Emerald Damselfly, Grove Meadows Stormwater Pond, Oxon
5 September 2023
This is a first for this site, and is part of a rapid
colonisation of the county since 2020.
This is a focus
stacked image, which for those interested in such things was taken
with the Canon R5 hand-held and standing up. The resulting
sequence of images showed a lot of movement and warps/wobbles that
I find plaque the images from this camera when hand held and
standing up.
These
issues defeated the Helicon Focus 7 software I use for focus
stacking but I found that Photoshop has a very powerful image
alignment tool that worked very well, when applied prior to the Helicon
Focus stacking but at the expense of a huge amount of processing
time and a need for an amazingly large amount of scratch disc
space!
Click to enlarge |
 |
Migrant Hawker, Grove Meadows Stormwater Pond, Oxon
5 September 2023
My customary late season Migrant Hawker in flight shot, but this
wasn't easy as there was only 1 present on and off, and it only
hovered very briefly once.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Small Red-eyed Damselfly, Grove Meadows Stormwater Pond, Oxon
10 August 2023
My first visit to this local site in some time, due in no small
part to the rotten weather. There were maybe 20-30 of these spread
out over the algal mats but none were coming very close.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Common Darter, Grove Meadows Stormwater Pond, Oxon
10 August 2023
Common Darters in flight are comparatively easy to get onto with
the R5, and make tempting subjects when there isn't much else
around!
Click to enlarge |
 |
Common Darter, Grove Meadows Stormwater Pond, Oxon
10 August 2023
A slightly different view as this was just starting to bank
left.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Southern Hawker, Boundary Brook Nature Reserve, Oxford. 9 August 2023
This one appeared very briefly over the large pond, just
allowing me to capture a few frames before it disappeared.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Common Darter, Boundary Brook Nature Reserve, Oxford. 9 August 2023
Hovering over the Garden Pond from time to time.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Common Darter, Faringdon Folly Park Pond, Oxon 3 August 2023
En route home from Standlake, I decided to make a diversion to
this site as the sun was (briefly) out and it was almost warm.
This Common Darter briefly obliged by hovering in front of me
in a small bay made for fishermen.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Emperor, Faringdon Folly Park Pond, Oxon 3 August 2023
By now the sun had retreated again behind the clouds and so the
light was quite poor. This Emperor was patrolling along the
western end of the pond but was someway out. I ended up taking
this shot with a crazy ISO of 25,600, but its amazing what the
latest NR tools (in this case DXO PureRaw and Topaz) can do now to
clean even this level of noise up!
Click to enlarge |
 |
Southern Migrant Hawker, Whitecross Green Wood, Oxon 26 July 2023
With a sunny morning forecast at last it was time for another
attempt at Southern Migrant Hawker.
My aim, ever since
they were discovered on Otmoor in 2020, was to get a flight shot of
one. So although I managed, at last, to get a photo of one settled two weeks
ago, there were no opportunities then for flight photography.
With Ian Lewington having found a spot where in-flight photos
seemed possible, this is where I headed.
Immediately I
arrived there were at least 2 flying around but it took some time
(and many shots) to get some reasonable photos.
In this
one, the dragonfly is
sideways on, with the tip of the abdomen and the head all
in focus.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Southern Migrant Hawker, Whitecross Green Wood, Oxon 26 July 2023
Another sideways on photo with a similarly dark background.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Southern Migrant Hawker, Whitecross Green Wood, Oxon 26 July 2023
Almost head-on.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Southern Migrant Hawker, Whitecross Green Wood, Oxon 26 July 2023
Just starting a turn.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Southern Migrant Hawker, Whitecross Green Wood, Oxon 26 July 2023
This dragonfly only landed
briefly a couple of times when I was there, neither on a "nice"
perch with a clean background. Here it is on dense vegetation near the ground.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Southern Migrant Hawker, Whitecross Green Wood, Oxon 26 July 2023
Settled high up in a small tree - many thanks to Wayne Bull for
his patience in eventually getting me on to it!
Click to enlarge |
 |
Southern Migrant Hawker, Whitecross Green Wood, Oxon 13 July 2023
At last, after numerous attempts in 2020 on Otmoor, where they
were originally found, I finally connected with one in nearby
Whitecross Green Wood this year!
Including another failed attempt on
Otmoor this year, I reckon this was about my 12th time lucky. So if
each visit lasted about 2 hours, that's about 24 hours in the
field before finally getting an Oxon photo of this beauty!
This one was along the main E/W ride, about 50m past the 3-way
junction with the sign.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Red-eyed Damselfly, Faringdon Folly Park Pond, Oxon
16 June 2023
Just as I was about to depart, I found this spot where Red-eyed
Damselflies were hanging around and flying around in a small
confined area, not far out.
So I though I'd try some
in-flight damselfly photography which was only feasible thanks to
the amazing eye detection AF on the Canon R5. It doesn't usually
recognise dragonfly eyes, but had no problems with this damselfly
when it was facing the camera!
Click to enlarge |
 |
Red-eyed Damselfly, Faringdon Folly Park Pond, Oxon
16 June 2023
A somewhat easier to get photo of a tandem pair - that were
moving much slower than the individuals.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Four-spotted Chaser, Faringdon Folly Park Pond, Oxon
16 June 2023
Briefly settled on the end of a leaf. In the hot weather this
morning, everything was very jumpy!
Click to enlarge |
 |
Four-spotted Chaser, Faringdon Folly Park Pond, Oxon
16 June 2023
A different perspective! I was quite surprised that this focus
stacking sequence worked out, as the previous one I'd tried, which
less ambitious, didn't due to movement.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Small Red-eyed Damselfly, Grove Meadows Stormwater Pond, Oxon
15 June 2023
I was surprised to find a few of these on the floating
vegetation as it is quite early for them.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Azure Damselfly, Grove Meadows Stormwater Pond, Oxon
15 June 2023
Plenty of Azures at this site today!
Click to enlarge |
 |
Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, Dida Gardens, Didcot, Oxon
9 June 2023
Took a bit of finding in the now heavily overgrown smaller
stormwater pond. Last year it was almost clear water, today
it was full of rushes etc!
It is also took some time to
get a sequence of shots with a reasonably clean background for
focus stacking.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Emperor, Grove Meadows Storm Water pond, Oxon
2 June 2023
To start with all I could find here were damselflies out on the
floating vegetation but then an Emperor zoomed past which
certainly got my attention.
Fortunately despite the
blustery conditions it posed just once before disappearing round
the other side.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Emergent Clubtail and exuvia. Goring (Gatehampton) Railway
Bridge, Oxon
26 May 2023
There was far more grass along the top of the wall that goes
under the bridge, and
overhanging it, than ever before. This made spotting anything on
the wall more difficult and hazardous than
previously. Nevertheless with care I found 2 exuviae and this
emergent that was just about to fly off.
Indeed when I
looked away briefly I found it had gone, ruling out any further
attempts for photography and spotting where it went. So rather
frustrating.
Click to enlarge |
 |
Azure Damselfly, Grove Meadows Storm Water pond, Oxon
24 May 2023
Not many photo opps around this pond today. Clearly still early
days in the season.
Click to enlarge |
| © All pictures
copyright Stephen Burch |
