Tame demoiselle

It felt as though I had to wait longer than usual for the start of bug season. Heading out to the barn every afternoon to prepare dinner for our llamas and goats, I remember telling my husband more than once, that it felt as though we had six months of winter.

And then it began. Slowly, but surely, I went for the early green hairstreaks, the Duke of Burgundy and the various insects at our local country park. This year, I’ve had a mental list of those I would like to see (or see again) during this season. It’s not always been easy – photographing bugs is never easy and yet here we are at the end of June and my list is already complete. I will post some of my finds over the coming weeks and months, but this is one that although on the list, I would never in my wildest dreams have had it posing on my finger.

I’m used to photographing demoiselles. The banded are tricky enough, but I had only managed the front end of a beautiful demoiselle by accident a couple of years ago. It’s a nice image to have, but I was desperate to capture those stunning, bronze wings. I had already managed this on three occasions in May and early June and was more than happy with the results.

Then, we had another chilly spell. It was the 3rd June and the temperature was around 12C. Not even high enough for the butterflies in our fields. I was crossing our lawn to start cleaning out the field shelter when something landed at my feet. Looking down, I spotted this lovely male beautiful demoiselle, clearly too cold to fly. I picked him up and he moved on to my finger, where he stayed for the next ten or fifteen minutes.

Shouting out to my husband to fetch my camera, I sat down with my hand resting on our picnic bench. The demoiselle stayed put while I fiddled with the settings and somehow I got everything in focus, even with the aperture at f/8. (I normally use f/14 for damselflies, but the light was very poor that morning).

Eventually, the sun broke through the clouds and the bug flew off over the hedge in the direction of our fields.