I have been looking forward to seeing this dragonfly but thought it would not be until August. It is a male black darter (Sympetrum danae). I have seen black darters at the pond each year, but in small numbers. They are the least common of the darters here and probably have the shortest flight season. I am not sure I have ever seen a female here but I probably wasn't looking very hard - I'll be keeping a good look out in the next few weeks.
Common darters are now more numerous with lots of immatures. I saw a mating pair but didn't get a good enough photo to post. This is a female.
This is an immature male.
Ruddy darters are still the most numerous dragonflies. All the darters sometimes adopt this posture, especially in hot weather. It is known as an obelisk posture, something I have rarely seen before, but perhaps then it wasn't warm enough. It is thought to minimise overheating but may also be a territorial display.
There are now several male common hawkers but I have yet to see one at rest, or to see a female.
So far this year I have seen only two female emperor dragonflies but the males are still on patrol. They do rest occasionally but usually too far away from the camera.
I think the season is over for the azure damselflies. Damselflies I have seen this week are blue-tailed, emerald and, here, common blue.
I often find insects I don't recognise and I usually take a photo so I can look it up later. This one took a bit of tracking down but is a female soldier fly, Stratiomys potamida, also known as the banded general.
And they are still here.
No comments:
Post a Comment