A fascinating process to watch
The first time I saw nymphs of dragonflies was when I was spring-cleaning out our little garden pond and dug up those ugly looking creatures I had no idea what they were. Only some time later a friend enlightened me to the fact that they were just waiting for their time to turn into the beautiful dragonflies I came to like so much. Then again, beautiful is maybe not even the right word to describe them once you have seen them up close and personal.
A new must-do for me every year around June
So, after the first year of actually watching them hatching it has become a must do for me around June to see when the next generation is ready to morph into the beautiful flying creatures they are.
The longer I watch, the more I can predict what will happen
Every serious wildlife photographer in the world will probably say: ‘Yes, so? Of course, you will learn more by observing more and longer. That’s how wildlife photography works’.
So, what I found out over the years is that the dragonflies – or are they still called nymph here? – always seem to hatch around a full moon and only when it will not rain long enough, so they can finish their metamorphosis in time. And despite the photographs below showing one that has actually been rained on during the process, I noticed that the process seemed to have stopped to a degree. I guess if the wings don’t dry out completely first they just won’t fly anywhere.
And yes, the internet and public libraries are full of articles and books that explain it all in great detail and scientifically correct to ignorant people like me. Yet, where is the fun in that? Rather than reading up all about them, I just add what I observed myself to my own brain-library. And I know it will be stored there to be retrieved when needed much safer than having read it somewhere.
I already look forward to the next hatching season
The entire process usually takes a couple of hours depending on the weather. And the first time ever I observed it, my camera didn’t have a time-lapse feature. So, I just sat on the ground for hours, camera on a tripod in front of me and pushing the shutter button every few minutes or when I saw something happening.
The last couple of years, though, it was already more comfortable because my camera does have time-lapse now. So, I set it all up and just check every now and again if everything is still within the frame or whether the creature has moved somewhere else, which does happen, I found out.
2015
It will not get boring
I cannot get enough of watching this process over and over again every year and have hundreds of photographs of it by now. Unfortunately, the nymphs don’t always place themselves in a spot where I can ‘get to them’ with my camera or where the light is ‘good’. Yet, whenever I do manage to frame them nicely, I am spending hours fascinated by nature once again.
The photographs of the dragonfly above were made in June 2020.
