Having spent some 6 years now living beside the harbour ‘gap’ in Aberystwyth I feel I have come to know the area and it’s inhabitants rather well. Even so there is still the occasional new sighting to surprise me.
Whilst the delicate damselflies are a relatively common sight during the heat of the summer I have only ever had the most fleeting glimpse of their much larger relatives the dragonflies in this area.
Yesterday as I sat mesmerised by the adorable antics of a clutch of mallard ducklings (more about those later), I was momentarily distracted by a large flying insect darting over the water surface. As it settled briefly on a nearby floating tree branch, I got my first sighting of this impressive mini beast, a Golden-ringed dragonfly.
Around 8cm long and thicker than my thumb, these dragonflies are highly effective predators, able to catch large insects on the wing including butterflies, bees and even other dragonflies!
Unfortunately I was only equipped with my 300mm zoom lens, not ideal for photographing insects and so I wasn’t able to get some really striking close ups. Nevertherless a nice addition to my ‘Life in Miniature’ series.
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All photographs copyright of Claire Stott/Grey Feather Photography © 2021
www.greyfeatherphotography.com
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Wow! What a beautiful creature and a great sighting.
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