Succession

While we are still having Common Darters emerge from the little pond, the earliest new dragons have now matured and are at the stage when they only really have two things on their mind, food being the other one.

Common Darters seem to be pretty territorial and the pond has been guarded by one male in the last few days.  So I was rather surprised when I looked out of the kitchen window to see two couples busy ovipositing.   

Our pond is a bit overgrown at this point in the season.  As a result the dragons are difficult to get clear shots of while they remain conjoined, moving quickly, over the pond, between the vegetation, bobbing up and down as they their eggs.  While I did manage to get this image of them both, the very busy background in the bright sunlight is a bit too distracting to make this a shot that I am completely happy with.  But it's a nice record of where we currently are in their season.