Orthetrum caledonicum … I was surprised to find myself at the centre of this dragonfly’s attention. It repeatedly circled me before landing again on its favoured perch, facing me every time. So I looked back at it, closely … and the behaviour suddenly made sense. That biting hoard of tabanid flies plaguing me? … the perfect dragonfly smorgasbord!

Adversaeschna brevistyla. Those huge, beautiful eyes are central to the life of this aerial predator. Dragonflies detect and process images more than 3x faster than humans, and have superb colour vision. Indeed, dragonflies are reported to have an ‘ultra-multicolour’ view of the world – not the simple red-blue-green trichromatic world we see.

Hemicordulia australiae. I see a resting dragonfly and I just can’t resist.

Hemicordulia australiae … Australian Emeralds. While the male grips the female by the neck throughout, she appears to take the lead in their eventual coupling.

Orthetrum caledonicum … the most common dragonfly of the Summer here in the forest. Our little frog pond is one of their favoured breeding sites. Female or young male? … I’m really not sure.