Dewy-eyed over damsels

Story of my life, I guess. But enough about me, let's have some natural history.

Early Saturday morning, the air was quite still, the sun was shining and who could resist a visit to the reserve?

The car park already had a space occupied at 6am. Those moth enthusiasts must never sleep!

Wandering along, staring into the damp grass, many a roosting damselfly could be seen.

Azure Damselfly

In fact, there were damsels everywhere. Dragons were thin on the ground, but here's one that got away...

Exuvia of a Hairy Dragonfly

In the Centre garden, a riverine species, normally, was sunning itself on a leaf.

Male Banded Demoiselle

And along the boardwalk, a male Red-eyed Damselfly was enjoying breakfast...

But the highlight of the morning was watching the emergence of a Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly. A sequence of photographs showing this event can be seen here.

And they're off!

After a chores-y morning, I couldn't resist a half an hour's quality HESC time, so decamped to the reserve to check out the ponds for any emerging damsels or dragons.

The day was the warmest in a while, with a only a slight Northerly breeze, so I was delighted to discover a female Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura elegans, in the small pond in the Centre garden.

Round by the pond dipping area, a few Large Red Damselflies, Pyrrhosoma nymphula, were emerging and several female Azure Damselflies, Coenagrion puella, were taking their maiden flights, all milky wings and ungainly landings. Whilst watching a Red and an Azure that were perched quite close together, my eyes were drawn to a much larger shape a bit further away. Another female, but this time a Hairy Dragonfly.

Brachytron pratense

At last, the Odonata flight season seems to be underway.