I spent a gorgeous bank holiday weekend pottering around our wildlife pond, watching the Azure damselflies wafting about in pairs and aerial wars between a powder blue male Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly and custard-yellow Four-spotted Chaser dragonflies to rival any aeroplane dogfight as each fiercely competed for territory.
Suddenly among all the vivid blue azures and yellows I quite literally saw red, that is, a pair of red mating damselflies! It was another first for my Norfolk wildlife pond as they proved to be Britain’s Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). Flying earlier than its cousin the Small Red Damselfly (Ceriagrion tenellum), it can also be distinguished by its black legs and strongly striped antehumeral markings.
This photo marks the ninth species of Odonata (dragonflies and damselfles) recorded at our pond (more on that here) and not bad for a pond thats only five seasons old…
