The Jewel at the End of the World

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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

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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 :(

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Summer's End?

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Thought I'd write a post on the very long hot summer we've enjoyed(?) this year. Usually, the summer here is hot and humid but I've never experienced one as long as this one. Over the last couple of days we've actually had temperatures of 27~28C. I should point out here I'm not complaining about the heat, but showing relief that the temperature has dropped from the 30+ degrees it's been since mid July! We're still having tropical nights (temp doesn't drop below 25C) and we're due a very powerful typhoon tonight that's going to drag higher temperatures back from the tropics tomorrow :(

You'll probably hear me complaining about the cold come January, but for the moment, I'd give anything for a bit of cool! However, the weather has been spectacular in other ways. The skies have been remarkably clear at times with wonderful cloud formations, and because of the heat the local greenery and wildlife has demonstrated a fecundity that's given us some great photo ops :)

Macro Monster Butterflies

 Went on one of our summer safari's to the nearby woods and found several of the trees covered in butterflies of several types, mostly of the swallowtail variety. Because of the heat several trees were weeping a sweet sap which the butterflies and several other kinds of insects (for later posts!) find irresistible. In fact, they love it so much that it is possible to get the camera within a centimeter of them without any effect whatsoever. Normally even if I'm around when they land it's near nigh impossible to get a decent shot of them before they're off again so today was a rare chance to get up close and personal so to speak.

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We've been back on several occasions since to get more photos and cam footage, each time with different insects clamoring for the nectar that seems to flow faster with the rise in temperature - currently 36C! Got some great shots as well. Apart from the stuff on display here, I'll be putting up later posts of battling butterflies and this years midnight safari. For the moment hope you enjoy the spectacle of monster butteflies ;)

Frog Heaven

This is an addition to the previous post. Went out a long way on the bicycle today to a place I haven't been in a year or two. Really beautiful nature park teeming with wildlife of all kinds some of which will crop up in later posts. Just came across this guy sitting on the side of a small stream. It looked an idyllic place for a frog and for a change the wee amphibian didn't jump at the first sign of my approach which gave me chance to play around with the lighting on my new camera. Very pleased with the result :)

Contemplating life from the amphibian perspective.
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A Frog in my Pocket

At this time of year there are frogs in every paddy field and pond and tree from the gigantic bull frogs which are more heard than seen down to the fingernail sized green frogs of the pictures below.

Most summers we keep one or two as a pet for a time, but as they're difficult to feed we usually just catch and let them go.

The first time I saw one of these I was by myself wondering around the nature reserve when I found one looking at me out of the water. The Professor had asked me to get one a week previously but I wasn't good at spotting them at that time. They blend into the background very well! With that one I was in a bit of a quandary because I hadn't anything to carry it in. Eventually after rooting through my bag I found a soft plastic tube I'd used for my toothbrush. This got chucked out and with a bit of water in the bottom it made a great temporary container for the first of many summer frog visitors to the pocket zoo.

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: ..........................