Pictures from Svankällan and Arendal

The last week has been spent at two different locations taking pictures of Dragonflies and birds. I set myself a goal to take pictures of six different types of Dragonflies and therefore I have visited Svankällan a couple of times after I have quit work.

Svankällan is one of the better places if you want to see, or take photos, of Dragonflies in Gothenburg. There are a couple of more, but at Svankällan you are certain to see many different species.

It is a good start to know where to find them, but it is a huge mission to take the pictures that I want. I don´t want the perching type of pictures. I want to see them flying, breeding or laying egg. That means you have to be persistent and most of all have a little bit of luck.

This is the best picture that I took of a Common Hawker in flight.

This isn´t an easy picture to take as the auto focus most often need a little help to find the Dragonfly. That means one first have to manually focus to find the subject before you activate auto focus. If you also add an agile insect in the equation you understand how difficult it is to take a picture like this.

At Arendal the focus have been on birds. I wanted to see what the area could produce now and also check it the Ospreys still where there.

After two times there, I would say that the Ospreys are gone. Instead, I have found huge flocks of Greenfinches and also a couple of Grey Herons. It would be really nice to get the possibility to take photos of hunting Grey Herons. I know I might be able to see their predatory behavior at Getterön, but this is surely closer to home.

This is by far the best picture from Arendal. I really like this one with the smooth background with rich colors. It is taken just after the rains had stopped and that is what makes this picture for me. It is of one of the birds that I see almost every day of the year, but still it’s a picture that I truly like.

Please enjoy the gallery.

Photo Gallery: Pictures from Svankällan and Arendal