I decided to head to the Botanics, a great spot for bird watching as well as insects.

My attention was focused on the lily pond, and it was in full colour with lillies popping up all over the place.

It was obvious that it was going to be a good day. A great number of damsel and dragonflies were already active flying around, over and above that.

The bushes along the side appeared to be teaming with insects. I had Canon gear- 150 macro lens and flash, not forgetting a tripod.

Moving around my first find in the reeds at the edge of the pond was a dragonfly drying its wings, a great subject.

More of Jim's work: Jim Thomson | Kingfishers, kookaburras, kestrels and more

I probably only found it because I was there in the early morning which now brings me to letting our readers have a look at the life cycle of the dragonfly.

When the eggs are laid in the water they hatch to become nymph. During this period - which lasts for some two years - they are aggressive, feeding on small insects, worms and so on.

They have external gills. At the conclusion they rise to the surface by crawling up reeds or similar vegetation.

This usually takes place in the early hours that is why I found my first subject drying its wings.

To reach this stage it has a lump called a thorax which splits and the wings emerge.

More of Jim's work: Jim Thomson | Yellow Robins busy in the Hunter in Spring

At this stage it breathes air and it pumps blood into the wing case as it waves them about.

Soon it leaves the old shuck - it is now in its final stage. It pairs up with another and in turn they reproduce eggs and the whole cycle starts again. During this time the male supports the female while she lays the eggs, shown in some of my images.

As the morning progressed I found lots of subjects - robber flies, large wasps, ants and so on.

Most of the images were taken with the macro lens with fill flash as some were in shady areas.

This was also good being a short duration it froze any movement. But a few shots were taken with the longer lens as they were in the middle of the pond.

Altogether it was a great day, hope you enjoy.