A dragon at last

Today I planned to go with Paladian (after encouragement) to Brownhill Creek and blip the complete Pink Flowering Gum tree that I have had my eye on for weeks. I blipped a close-up of the blossom on this tree on 8th January.

However Paladian probably slightly regretted my presence in the end, as I got itchy fingers for more than just a blip of a tree! Noting that there seemed to be a nice mix of dragons and bees at this particular spot in the creek, I decided to shoot a few dragon pix of my own for my first ever dragon blip. It was a bit overcast and they were not moving around quite as fast as usual.

At the present time we have only one camera between us, and it was a mini-battle as to who could use it at any moment in time. From my standing position I could see a dragon fly about a metre in front of me, so I "borrowed" the camera and got in a few shots while it was resting on a leaf.

At last I got a dragon suitable to blip, although I was a bit too far away, and the left side wings of the dragon tend to blend into the leaf. But a dragon is a dragon when all is said and done.

I am told on the highest authority (Paladian) that it is a male Swamp Tiger Tail Dragonfly and the dragonfly is a beautiful insect belonging to the Odonata family. See more dragon like!

Suffice to say, the minute we got home, I ordered my new camera body that I have been planning for several weeks, and then in future we can both fight over the use of the macro lens! This is now the slightly re-cropped version.

The new place at the creek where she took me to for these shots is a bit "ratty" (rough around the edges), but an absolute gold mine for all sorts of critters from dragons, to regular bees and skinks to blue banded bees such as the beauty that Paladian blipped today, seen here.