For illustrated talks on natural history and history see www.peterlovetttalks.co.uk

For illustrated talks on natural history and history click here for www.peterlovetttalks.co.uk

Tuesday 24 June 2014

White-legged and Large Red Damselflies copulating today

Above is clearly a Large Red Damselfly in my garden today.
Above is the amazing copulating circle of a Damselfly.  Is it a Large Red?  I'm not sure.
Actually Yes!  Compared to the above post-coital pair of the Large Reds above, about to lay eggs, they appear to be the same species.  The female abdomen is described as more heavily marked with black; the thorax sometimes yellow striped.  That fits those above.  And they tolerate the still water of my ponds.

By contrast slow-moving water and large lakes are preferred by the White-legged Damselfly, which figures as the below picture was from the Loder valley this afternoon

A rather large Dragonfly will have emerged from the empty larva skin above, by my pond.
Insects are just fascinating at any time, especially Damselflies now.



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