Metamorphosis

I had a walk around Risley Moss late morning. I met two chaps with cameras. One was seeking out trees to photograph. Not the easiest subject I think. The other had spent two hours by a pond trying to photograph dragonflies - the darters were out when the sun shone.

I took a few pics and liked this one. I’ve rotated it - it was hanging vertically on a leaf stalk, but a horizontal view gives a better view of the shell of this beastie. Dragonflies spend most of their lives as ferocious nymphs in ponds, growing by moving out of one skin into another in stages (instars is the term I think). Then as a final coup de grace they climb up a stem and emerge from their old skins as winged beauties. Metamorphosis is an amazing process.