Hide 'n' peek! The damselfly who thought he was hidden... but was given away by his bug eyes



This little damselfly thought it was cleverly hiding behind a blade of grass at a British lake, but didn’t realise its big bug eyes gave away its disguise.



The tiny insect concealed its two-inch body and transparent wings by clinging onto the grass with its black legs.



But instead of being incognito, photographer Tony Flashman captured the common blue damselfly’s piercing eyes with his camera at Fordwich Lakes, near Kent.

Peek-a-bug: This little Damselfly was caught hiding behind a blade of grass in Fordwich Lakes, near Kent

Mr Flashman crawled around the lake’s meadows at 5am to try and photograph the flies before they become too active at sunrise.



And the Kent-born photographer said: ‘This little fly thought it was being clever by hiding behind the grass in a game of hide and seek but he didn’t do a very good job.

‘I could see his eyes peeking out from either side and its legs wrapped around the grass.



‘It needs to move from the thin long grass to the reeds, where it will have a bit more cover.’

We can see you! The long blue damselfly was captured by photographer Tony Flashman, from Kent

He added: ‘This fly behaved himself and allowed me to get a good photograph but I had to get there early.



‘As soon as it warms up, they start to move around too much.’



From another angle the slender damselfly is seen holding itself up against the grass as morning dew drops trickle down onto its wings.



Damselflies are similar to dragonflies but the adults differ by holding their wings long and parallel to the body when resting.



They are also usually smaller and weaker fliers than dragonflies and their eyes are wide apart – as seen poking out from behind this blade of grass.

