EMPEROR DRAGONFLY - ANAX IMPERATOR

I had a lie-in this morning, on Mr. HCB’s orders, and in fact, was in bed last night by 8 o’clock as I was so tired - I think all the heavy work in the garden has caught up with me, and as Mr. HCB and I have to remind ourselves quite often, we aren’t as young as we were and it takes much longer to do a job and then to recover afterwards.  I do apologise for not responding to the kind comments on yesterday’s Blip, but thank you all so much for them and the stars and hearts, which were all very much appreciated.

Mr. HCB is out in the garden digging out more stumps so I went off for a walk, my first for some time - I wasn’t intending to go over to “my field” but I am so glad that I did.  Whilst walking round and doing my usual singing, I saw a number of damselflies and dragonflies, but didn’t really think that I would get a decent shot as they were darting about but hardly ever landing and I only had my phone with me.  

However, I stopped to look at one that had perched on a nearby bush and to my amazement, it stayed there.  I don’t know whether they are distracted by noise, so I was very quiet and managed to take quite a few shots.  I was even able to move around and get a better shot of the head and when I got home and looked at it in more detail, I was thrilled that my dragonfly photograph was in focus and not a bad shot.  

Looking in Mr. HCB’s British Wildlife book and on the internet, I think it’s a male Emperor dragonfly, and although there are no lakes that close to my field, there is a stream that runs through, so perhaps that’s the reason for the abundance of damsel and dragonflies in this area, but hopefully, there will be someone on Blip who knows for sure.  

I carried on wandering around the field, taking more photographs of the trees and just generally enjoying being out and I even spotted something I might be able to use for Silly Saturday!

When I got home, Mr. HCB had put the umbrella up over the table so we sat in the garden chatting and enjoying our coffee but then off he went to finish the job he started earlier.  I think we will both enjoy sitting in the garden and just enjoying the sunshine this afternoon.  We now have two people coming round later to give us quotes for the gravelling - just need to make sure one has gone before the other one arrives!

“Magic is seeing wonder 
     in nature's every little thing, 
          seeing how wonderful the fireflies are 
               and how magical are the dragonflies.”
Ama H. Vanniarachchy