The Jewel at the End of the World

Click to purchase from Redbubble

Went to the lake to get this picture. At this time of year the tracks down to the shore are about 30cm wide and you walk through a tunnel created by 3 meter tall grass and plants on both sides. At the end is always a sheltered fishing spot with nobody around in the middle of the week. These are the only places where I am guaranteed to find a large variety of dragonflies I can photograph close up. My favorite place in the summer. Though with the mozzies out in force I’m usually weak with loss of blood by the time I stagger out!  This one though was worth all the sweat, toil and loss of my vital bodily fluids ;)

Like trekking through a jungle!

Dragon Play

This image can be purchased at Redbubble

The temperatures here have suddenly soared with the sultry heat reaching the mid thirties and in some places looking like it might breach 40C in the next few days. This means the dragons have come out to play. I've seen several species around that I haven't caught sight of in several years, including the beautiful creature above known here in Japan as a cho tonbo. Roughly translated as a butterfly dragon. Strangely, they're also a lot easier to capture on film this year. Usually it takes a lot of patience to wait for them to land, but on my expedition of a couple of days ago both the cho tonbo and the yellow dragonfly below kept coming back to the same perch in the grass near the river. This was great for me as I got some good shots, and unfortunately also good for the mosquitoes that got to feast on all my exposed parts at will :(

This image can be purchased at Redbubble

Dragon Hunt on One Leg

Well, bought a new camera this week which takes great shots in macro or telephoto mode which is the good news. On the other hand I hurt my leg badly enough to stop me from roaming too far from home. This means I've been practicing my photography in a small area crammed with wildlife I can get at, which at this time of the year means dragonflies. Good thing is I don't have to go hopping after them, just exercise a little patience and they come and land nearby.

Hopefully after a few sessions with the physiotherapist I'll be back on two (functioning!) feet again and can go on some wider safaris.

With a little luck and a planning I'm hoping to get some video of these in flight. Call it my summer homework. Until then, enjoy these and wish me luck ;)

This one looked to have some damage to it's wings making it easy to capture in image but a little sad to see.

The Finger Dragon ~ とんぼ

Back in the spring I published a blog article about Japanese lizards I titled 'The Finger Dragon'. Though the subject of this post is different I offer no apologies for the similarity in title. Dragonflies have to be one of my favorite insects and here in Japan we have a wealth of them. At this time of year at the end of the rainy season they start to appear here and there and eventually reach their peak at the start of autumn when you can see them in hordes. As they're just emerging from their aquatic form it seems to be quite easy to get close to them which makes for some great photos. As you can see here, they'll even perch on a finger if you don't move around too much.

This being the first day of my summer holiday (yippee!), me and Prof Ewan spent some quality time with cameras wondering round the ponds and through the bushes of the local wildlife hotspot. He was quite enamored with his little 'dragon' as it kept coming back to sit on his finger. Eventually, we had this conversation.....

Ewan: Can I keep it as a pet dad?
Paul: Can't really do that. It needs to fly to feed.
Ewan: That's OK. We can keep some mosquitoes in the house too.
Paul: ..........................