UK Wildlife Blog

The female, as you can see, is not as red

This species tends not to wander far from its breeding ponds and, with the UK being at the north of this mostly mediterrean species range, it will only fly in warmer calmer conditions. The preference for warm is reflected by its choice of breeding pool which tends to be shallow open and relatively warm (Smallshire and Swash, 2004). I got a photograph of a mating pair

Another new species for me was the black darter. This is another heathland species, although it can be found moorland and unlike the red damselfly is found much further north, where in fact it is more common and widely distributed (Smallshire and Swash, 2004). The male is black, hence the name

The female is mostly yellow but with large amounts of black colouration

This species breeds in acidic shallow water (i.e. pools ditches and lake margins), and they lay the eggs in typical darter fashion, with the female dipping her abdomen into the water and laying an egg while in flight, sometimes while in tandem with the male. I saw this in action but couldn't get a photo, but I did manage a mating pair

The third new species for me was the keeled skimmer. This species is typical of acidic wet heathland but this species can disperse quite widely from its breeding pool, with some reaching 20km away (Smallshire and Swash, 2004).

Other species I saw included these mating common blue damselflies

Some emerald damselflies

I also managed a blurry photo demoiselle species and a rubbish photo of a brown hawker, my bogey species! I'll get it eventually!

But I think Ill finish a male small red damselfly, viewed from the top down