Tuesday 14 July 2009

Broad-bodied Chaser fest

This little beastie gave me the right run around! It is a male Broad-bodied Chaser and he was patrolling a small area of water at the nature reserve, keeping all comers off his patch. Well, I noticed a couple of his favourite perches so I slowly sidled up to snaps some shots and off he'd shoot to another part of the pond. I watched where he alighted and very slowly and carefully approached......just as I got there and got the camera up to my eye....off he went again, back to his original perch. Hmmmmm! So back over I went very very slowly and very very carefully. As you can guess....off he shot. So, I thought to meself. I'll just sit right here and he'll come back eventually. Well, ten minutes later (it seemed like half an hour!), he hadn't come back. So up I get and find him again at his second favourite perch. Again he shoots off. This was how it went for AGES! Eventually with some patience I got a couple of shots of the blighter!
The female on the other hand was quite obliging and decided to lay some eggs in the water. I didn't get very sharp shots, but in the sequence of photos below, I've tried to show the action she was taking to lay her eggs. A very quick bobbing dip down to the water over and over. Great to watch!





That's the last of my buggy foray to my local nature reserve. I must go back again when the weather is better to see what else is about.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

How cool. No they don't like to stand still. Good for you for getting the female, that is a challenge.

Rural Rambler said...

Jenny the first pictures of the male Chaser are wonderful and I more than admire your patience to get them. I have to say though that the pictures of the female on the water with the ripple effect are a treat. I love the feeling from the water! Great shots!

NatureStop said...

Jenny, you managed to get some cool shots!!

Eve said...

That was a lot of work Jenny! You did well, I don't know how many times I left a dragonfly empty handed because of their flighty nature!

Mary said...

These are great! I had to laugh at you chasing it around....been there! I often just sit down near their favorite perch and wait like you say. They do seem to have favorite branches. Great shots of the egg laying! I can only get that with a video. They move too fast for me and I don't know the tricks of stopping them in focus. There is one large dragonfly that I see all the time and I swear it never lands. I have tried for 2 years to catch one sitting somewhere.

Jenny said...

Hi Steve, I'd definitely like to spend more time (if I had it)on trying to get photographs of Dragonflies. I'm taking a week off work next week so maybe I'll get a chance then...

Hi RR, I was on the point of giving up, but I'm so glad I finally got a couple of shots. Yes, it was wonderful to watch that female pond dipping! (-:

Hi A & S, Thanks for that.

Hi Evie, It was fun work though!
(-:

Hi Mary, that's what they call fieldcraft, but I don't think I was very good at it. I guess patience had its reward in the end. With the female, I shot on continuous setting, do you have something like that on your camera?

Dog Trot Farm said...

Amazing Jenny, what patience and perseverance. Did you use the new G10?

Jenny said...

Hi Julie, my oh my, word gets around doesn't it! (-: No I didn't, I don't think I had the G10 when I was taking these photos. I will use that mainly for panoramic photos and maybe some macro stuff and hopefully videos etc....should be fun!

Dog Trot Farm said...

Jenny, I only inquired because Dear Cousin Eve keeps asking if I have purchased the G10. I almost did the transaction yesterday, but got cold feet. I figured if I purchased this camera, I won't have an excuse for poor quality pictures!

Kelly said...

Wow! What a great series of photos. They are so hard to get with the camera. Very cool....

Anonymous said...

Well done me dear you got the b..... in the end. Great shots of the female egg laying.

Quiet Paths said...

You have a wealth of patience, Jenny! What a very interesting post; esp. the female laying eggs. This was new for me. I'm so glad you hung in there.

Jenny said...

Hi Julie, my advice for what it's worth is swallow those cold feet and DEFO get that G10. You wont be disappointed. It's a great little camera. Roy from Fenland Walker helped me set up a couple of custom settings on it for macro shots and panoramic shots which is fabulous and very easy! By the way, I don't have shares in Canon! (-:

Hi Kelly, thanks for that. Coming from you I take that as a great compliment!

Hi Roy, I wanted to use something more naughty to name that male, but chickened out and called him a blighter in the end! (-: PS: Like the Zommerset accent by the way!
(-:

Hi Christine, glad you liked it, I did get a good feeling to get some photos after all the work, but then if it was always easy it wouldn't be so much fun I guess!
(-:

Don Wood said...

WOW well done I must show my wife as she has tried to take insects I cant move to take them so she gets the job and she does a good job but these will be ionsperation for her cheers XXX Don

John said...

Great photo's Jenny, your patience pays off with some cracking shots. I love trying to get photo's of Dragonflies and Damselflies. Keep it up.

JRandSue said...

Fantastic Shots.
John