Rain-drenched Dragonflies

Today is the first day of Autumn………it is cold, wet and windy and has been since last Friday.  I have needed a fire to warm the house as it was so cold – such a contrast to a week or so ago when it was amazingly hot.  The ground is sodden and on the road leading into town there are huge Eucalyptus trees that have been blown over or have broken limbs and everywhere is covered with leaf litter.  Therefor I was very surprised to find that there are still Dragonflies emerging from the nymph state by my lake, so late in the season and in such foul weather.  These photos were taken yesterday, I picked the water reeds on which they were clinging, and brought them up to the verandah, out of the wind and rain, to photograph.  It took a couple of hours for them to fully emerge, pump their wings and then fly off…..into the rain.