Just Emerged

Out in the garden this morning, and as always I go to see what’s happening around the pond. I switch on my pump, which has no filter and is open, and helps oxygenate the pond, although I think the oxygenating plants are doing a good job, but the sound and movement of water is always relaxing. And what do I notice? A freshly emerged Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). drying out in the early morning sun. It’s larval skin which can be seen on the other side of the tube in partial shade, discarded like an old suit. It was lucky it hadn’t gone up in a jet of water when I initially switched the pump on!

It must be the main season for emergence as I discovered lots of these freshly emerged damselflies clinging to pond plants with their old larval skins nearby.

Below, here is one that was made earlier, and is still reluctant to fly until it gets used to its new life out of the water and living in the air.

Please click on the images for a larger, more detailed view.

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Edit: Walter, who runs an excellent blog with some astoundingly detailed photographs of dragonflies has observed that this is a female, as indicated by the prominent ovipositor visible on the ventral side of the tip of her abdomen. You can visit his blog via Walter Sandford’s Photoblog.

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Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) newly emerged, rear garden pond, Staffordshire, England. May 2017.

 

05/1705/17 by Peter Hillman Categories: Animals, Animals (Invertebrates), Dragonflies, Garden, Garden Pond, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature Photography, Photography, Wildlife PhotographyTags: Damselflies, Dragonflies, Insects, Large Red Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula, Macro, Macro Photography, Nature, Nature Photography, Odonata, Photography, Pyrrhosoma nymphula, Wildlife, Wildlife Photography 13 Comments