Emperor

I waded in to the fringes of Ripple lake get this emperor dragonfly exuviae clinging to a reed.

It was the height of summer, the heat out there was at it's peak that afternoon and this poor specimen had to jiggle around with a bottle of water in my camera bag wrapped in a paper hankie. He isn't all there but nearly and I loved extracting him from my container in my office where he's been sitting ever since. 

The moulting process is a very vulnerable part of the whole procedure  but once it's emerged this casing can stay attached to the reeds or whatever for weeks which goes to show how important the attachment process is.

I've identified him as an Emperor Dragonfly because of the length of the casing and the size of his eyes which are huge on the side of his head.