Emergence

In the middle of pre-flight checks this teneral Southern Hawker dragon hung on a stalk in the middle of the pond waiting to take it's maiden voyage.

 On the left is her larval case -  now empty. She has broken through head first through a hole just in front of the wing, her legs have hardened off and at this point the new adult reaches  and pulls herself out - rather like taking off a jumper. Body fluids are pumped into the wings and abdomen then it hardens off. 

Sat leaning in a precarious manner on the bank over the water to try and get as near as I could I suddenly made a new friend! A very inquisitive Southern Hawker female just couldn't keep away. Half a dozen times over the morning she ended up exploring inside my camera hood, crawled over the lens, prodded it, sat on my hat, my legs, my finger and the camera. Fluttering within inches of my face which I have to say was slightly disconcerting she just eyeballed me time and time again. How cool was that!! I even took a series of shots with her in the lens hood but obviously those were rubbish as there was no focus at all.

I do  find the whole process quite fascinating and my extras show the larval case empty and one with another dragon just starting to emerge which I think hasn't survived as it's covered in flies. 

Yesterday evening there was a huge commotion in the conservatory as a female blackbird tried to get out and judging from the mess it had been there hiding sometime. Picking it up as it looked dazed I stood on the lawn just keeping it upright and making sure it's eyes didn't close. Leaving it alone then for a while it made a recovery and finally flew. Lovely to see that all was well.

The other slightly alarming thing yesterday was a man trying to throw himself of the motorway bridge on the M5 directly above my lane. Police were trying to talk him down, the traffic was nearly at a standstill both sides and as I slowly went underneath I have to say I was worried. Crickey I'd only washed the car at the weekend! Joking aside I do hope it ended happily.