Today we experienced the first warm day in Holland with temperatures rising over 20 degrees celcius. The last weeks were quite cold and windy so the damselflies in my pond kept safely in the water. Last year they were 2 weeks sooner with their transition from nymph to damselfly.

I opted for a setup that would give me greater than lifezize magnification: The Pentax K5, a Pentax 645 bellows and the Pentax 645 120mm macro lens. Massive in size and it definately looked like I was using a bazooka to shoot a musquito, but I got what I needed and that's what counts in the end ;-)

Below you'll find a short clip from Vimeo where the damselfy is just emerging from it's nymph state.

• Dragonflies and damselflies both belong to the insect order Odonata and have two pairs of wings. Damsels are smaller and have a lighter build than dragons. When resting, they fold their wings over their backs, whereas dragonflies spread their wings out to the side.
• Dragonflies are among the fastest and most manoeuvrable of insects. They can fly forwards, sideways, backwards and hover for extended periods; some can even reach speeds of 35kmph.
• Damselflies are slower (up to 10kmph) and have a more fluttering flight.
• Both have aquatic larval stages called nymphs, which can take several years to become adults. Juveniles are known as nymphs because there is no pupal stage.
• Dragonfly nymphs are similar to the adults but lack their colour and wings.
• Damselfly nymphs tend to hide in sediment or pondweed, and have three gills protruding from the tips of their abdomens.
• The last nymphal stage crawls out of the water, often by climbing vegetation, and the adult emerges from a split in the cuticle. Dragonfly nymphs can crawl some way from the pond; their exuvia (shed skins) are left clinging to vegetation.