The ideal place to find dragonflies.

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When you look at this picture, you might think, now where would one find dragonflies here?
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The mountains are surrounded by farms and a nature reserve and most of them have dams. So, I will take you to one of my favorite spots.

We went to the local nature reserve to see if there was life after the severe fire last year. That fire damaged the area severely and hundreds of large protea bushes and trees were burnt down.
But nature in these areas has seen many fires over the years, and nature always restores itself. Green foliage was now gallantly making an effort to grow again and we found some beautiful new life.
Come and see.

This below is a Broad Scarlet dragonfly (Crocothemis erythraea).
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The dam in the nature reserve withstood the fire, although the wooden walkways around it were destroyed. Note that there are no trees yet.
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The next 2 photos have 2 species of dragonflies in them.
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The one at the top left is a Broad Scarlet and the one at the bottom left is a male, Red-veined Dropwing dragonfly.
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Standing at the dam that is on a high mountain foothill, one can see beautiful views all around.
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Now this beauty below is a female Red-veined Dropwing (Trithemus arteriosa).
I have this and another 2 photos of her in different places.
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A couple of Blue billed ducks also made an appearance.
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This little beauty below is a Citril Damselfly (Ceriagrion glabrum).
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And finally I was excited to see a female Cape Sugarbird that came in to have a look for a possible nesting place.
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Sadly there were no available nesting spaces for the sugarbird yet, as all of the trees are still black and bare from the fire and it is going to take many years for the protea bushes to grow back up in size again.
I have many photos in my files that show the lush green growth prior to the fire and I have also posted many of them before, but things are steadily improving in this area and then it will teem with life again.

I continue to be amazed at the recovery powers of nature, and it always strengthens me to think that even after severe illnesses we as humans can also recover, even if it is against the odds. We have several friends that were severely struck by illnesses such as Covid, and other ailments, and by grace they have recovered.
So nature always gives me hope with its demonstrations.

And That's All Friends.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting a post on behalf of @papilloncharity

photography nature beauty dragonflies landscapes proofofbrain neoxian silverbloggers ecotrain
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42 comments
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Red-veined Dropwing (Trithemus arteriosa).

If I am right this is the species I often see before when I was a kid and used to chase.
But that red one, I haven't seen yet!
Wow thanks for sharing and lucky you were able to take photos of them!

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The red one is indigent, meaning that they only appear in this country.
Glad that you know the Red-veined and yes we all got up to much fun as kids.

Thank you and I was lucky to find the places that dragonflies love.

!LOLZ

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When I see your shots, I really want to have a good camera😥

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Gone are the days used to catch these dragon flies!

Awesome Shot's mate. That red dragonfly shot is so wonderful!

Nature is truly Amazing and beautiful.

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Ah, I am so glad that I only catch them on camera :)

Thank you for the compliment and the Red is also one of my favorites.

Nature is a wonderful gift to everybody and a pity that many don't realize it.

!PIZZA

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Amazing shots. Dragonflies are such remarkable creatures, few people know they are actually nature´s most successful predators with their hunting efficiency average as high as 95% :)

@tipu curate

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Thank you and that is why the first part of their name "Dragon" was given, as they have jaws very similar to the old dragons and they can mince their prey in seconds. Added by the flight speed and agility in the air, they are supreme hunters.

Thank you also for the tip.

!PIZZA !LOLZ !WINEX

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Thank you for showing one of your favorite places here! The photos were very good on you ✔️💯📸. The landscape despite everything that happened is still beautiful. It happened to me that I saw the photo where the two dragonflies are, I thought they were the same, but then, when I saw the quality of the photo you took, I could tell the difference between the two, despite having the same color. Good job!. Regards!.

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Thank you for the great reply and the compliments.
I am glad that you could see the difference, as it is not only in the color, but also in the body structures and the wings. A good way to identify dragonflies is to look at these items and then also the body (torso) and the tips of the tails.

I hope that you will have a good weekend.

!PIZZA

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(Edited)

🍕 PIZZA Party!

I gifted $PIZZA slices here:
@papilloncharity(5/10) tipped @clairemobey (x2)
papilloncharity tipped idksamad78699 (x1)
papilloncharity tipped phortun (x1)
papilloncharity tipped schiogonzalez (x1)

Join us in Discord!

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Wow - those red dragon flies are unbelievable - I've never seen anything like them before !

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breathtakingly beautiful imagery! We live on the west coast, almost right on the vlei, so we are in a perfect spot for wild birds and all kinds of bugs!! Especially mosquitos 🙄 however, my mom has a granadilla plant that the dragon flies absolutely adore!! They often come to visit.

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Thank you for the compliment.
We have not explored the west coast yet, but maybe in the cooler months. Great that you have so many insects near the vlei and it can make for some lovely macro shots.
Now you reminded me that I have a prepared granadilla post somewhere, as we have two huge fences at the front of our property that are covered in granadilla rankings. A will also be a great harvest in a few weeks time.

!PIZZA

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definitely avoid the west coat in December. Wind is horrendous. We have much better weather in late feb through to early April and then again from mid-October to the end of November. December and January are notoriously windy

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Thank you for the advice and we were thinking about early April prior to the Easter season, as we don't like crowds. The plan is to pop in at some places on our way to Ceres and to spend 2 days there in the mountains !LOLZ

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You will not regret it!!! That is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL part of the Cape! I'm dying to go there when it snows! We had no snow last winter though.

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A good friend told me about it and now you are saying the same thing, so yes, it will be done.
We also had no snow on the mountain peaks, but I saw that there was snow in some other areas.
Maybe the snowman will come next winter !LOLZ

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Lets hope! We even bought a car this year that's better built for it. Couldn't go looking for snow in my chevy spark 🙈 lets hope we get some decent snow this year!🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆

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I had a near death motorbike accident in 1980 and now my left knee is kaput. So we had to trade our Polo manual in for an automatic car, as I cannot tramp a clutch anymore. In the process we also got a decent car recently that can handle the ground roads, as we often travel on them to visit our charity projects.

We feed 4000 children at 21 schools over here in a partnership with another non-profit. And that is only one of our projects.

I don't think that we will have snow here again this year, but you guys can always travel to the areas where the snow falls.

!PIZZA

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(Edited)

Gosh if you guys ever get a foot in the Cape I'd love to work on the ground with you. I haven't been volunteering for over a year now and I miss it. I too have a buggered left knee from a desk carrying accident but I believe mine will heal..
With a heck of a lot of patience. I spent years riding pillion with my ex. How we didn't end up as pavement pate I don't know. Grateful every day for my borrowed time I'm living in.

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We might expand in the future but are now busy laying the foundation for Papillon's work over here. Long term survival enjoys all of my energies now, as we took a big knock in finances after we left Johburg. All of our supporters fell by the wayside, as they only work in the Gauteng area. We don't have any supporters in the cape yet, but it will come with time. Fortunately our projects here are popular and the people are benefitting from it.
This is the main reason why I am on Hive.

We both only live by grace on borrowed time, and I am glad that you and your ex weren't shunted in your biking days. Life goes on as they say.

!WINEX

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