Insects

After the day's rain we were treated to a fantastic late summer evening - the wind dropped, the sun came out and the temperature increased about 5 degs. At Sydvestpynten there weren't many birds about so I decided to have a go at photographing insects (it's fashionable for birders to get into dragonflies in the summer while the birding is quiet, don't you know..). I started with this European Garden Spider (I know, it's not a dragonfly but it looked cool) that seemed to be doing rather well with its web placed between two stinging nettles.. then moved on to the dragonflies. I don't know what two species I photographed - I think the first is a 'darter', probably a Common or Ruddy Darter and the second is, I think, some sort of 'skimmer' - I am going to stick my neck out here and say it might be a female Black-tailed Skimmer. I am sure there are some helpful souls out there that can tell me what they are.

Kite-surfing is all the rage at my local patch which can sometimes be irritating if they flush the shorebirds but, today, I couldn't help but admire the sight of the multi-coloured kites in the evening light. Some of these guys and girls are very skilled - doing somersaults, back-flips and all sorts of triple-salcos and double axels (or is that a different sport?)..

Photos: European Garden Spider (female); Ruddy(?) Darter; Black-tailed Skimmer?; and Kite-surfers