Scarce Chaser Dragonfly

It was such a glorious day I just binned any jobs that might have kept me indoors and went on a dragon hunt. I was thrilled to come across this quite rare one down by the river and even more pleased that it sat still while I took several shots ( see extra).
A bit later I was taking photos by the side of a small pond specifically managed for dragonflies, when I heard someone walking along the gangplank to the platform behind me......with a quick glance I asertained it was another photographer with the HUGEST lens I've ever seen!!! Anyway, at this point I usually skulk away trying to hide my modest lens but this time I decided to be brave and said hello. The chap was really friendly and we quickly fell into quite a geeky conversation about wildlife which lead to an ' I'll show you mine, if you'll show me yours ' moment when we showed each other some of the photos we had taken ( he identified my Scarce Chaser )......this then lead to an even more geeky chat about cameras and lenses ( sad, I know ) and I cheekily asked him if I could pick up his camera and huge lens......he was a bit apprehensive, I don't blame him, I would be too, but he said yes......boy was it heavy and I'm really not convinced that with his full frame camera he could get that much further than my smaller sensor and lens, so I no longer have any lens envy whatsoever......a lesson well learned :-)))

In other news ......the rather fit, muscular fencing man couldn't come yesterday but turned up just after lunch today and with soaring temperatures he was soon stripped down to just shorts and boots..........all I will say is that several Diet Coke breaks were taken ( anyone under 40 will have to look it up to know what I'm on about ).......Phew, what a scorcher!!! ;-)))