Let's start on Sunday 24th May when I went to Heath and Reach, targetting Downy Emerald. At first none were flying, but there were two Hairy Hawkers on the pool, and I tried a new technique, pre-focussing on a likely distance, setting the camera to manual focus, and blasting away when one came vaguely into range.
This wasn't altogether successful...
Then I found one landed. It was about 3 metres up and not at a good angle or in great light...
...but better things come to those who wait - an ovipositing female landed at my feet:
Then Downy Emeralds started appearing. Again the flight shot techniques failed dismally, but eventually I picked one up landing. Even though it was nearly 10 metres away across the pool, I blasted away with a few shots. It's in here, honest:
...but as you probably couldn't find it (neither could I at first, I thought it must have flown before I started shooting), here it is zoomed right in, though still not very big:
I went round to the nearest spot I could get to, couldn't see it, and repeated the process about five times, triangulating branches and stuff, until eventually I found it through a tunnel through the foliage as I teetered on the water's edge, and got a halfway decent shot:
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