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Dragonflies & Damselflies Page 8
Image Taken on 02 Jun 2024
at 15:39 Image of day on 30 Jun 2024
A male Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly showing us his wings nicely spread.
Damselflies perch with their wings aligned along their abdomens, but some occasionally
flick their wings open and closed while perched.
.jpg)
Ref: 20240630_r70_20240602_1539_078 beautiful demoiselle damselfly male with wings spread(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 22 May 2023
at 15:50 Image of day on 11 Jul 2023
Perched Demoiselle Damselflies normally perch with all four wings
aligned to produce a rather dark effect. This female Beautiful
was repeatedly flicking her wings providing an opportunity to
appreciate the subtle colour of mixed overlaps.
.jpg)
Ref: 20230711_df3_20230522_1550_013 beautiful demoiselle damselfly occasionally fluttering wings(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 02 Jul 2022
at 11:21 Image of day on 20 Aug 2022
An unexpected find of a female Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly long after
most of them have 'gone'. The Damselfly's wings are as undamaged as ever.
.jpg)
Ref: 20220820_df3_20220702_1121_147 beautiful demoiselle female(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 19 May 2014
at 17:43 Image of day on 24 Jul 2014
Our North boundary hedge has for a few years yielded the delight
of fluttering Demoiselle Damselflies as you walk down it for a
week or two each year. The Banded Demoiselle has been the
mainstay for a few years, but this year the Beautiful Demoiselle
is so far the only arrival - and beautiful fits the creature.
This is the female - we see far less of these than the
girl-hunting males!
.jpg)
Ref: 20140724_df2_20140519_1743_227 beautiful demoiselle female(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 27 May 2019
at 10:17 Image of day on 30 Jun 2019
Finally female Beautiful Demoiselle on the left and male on the right.
NOT EXACT SCALE - Don't read anything into the slightly different sizes.
 and male (right) (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20190630_df5_20190527_1017_020+1010_015 beautiful demoiselle female (left) and male (right) (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 21 May 2014
at 10:47 Image of day on 24 Jul 2014
Here is one of the male Beautiful Demoiselles living up to his name.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20140724_df2_20140521_1047_275 beautiful demoiselle male (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 22 May 2019
at 13:40 Image of day on 22 Jun 2019
Our first Odonata (Dragonfly family) of the year was this delightful
male 'Beautiful Demoiselle'. This is a big insect for the UK - length
about 50mm (2 inches) and in flight has a characteristic slow fluttering wing beat.
 (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20190622_df5_20190522_1340_147 beautiful demoiselle male (first of 2019) (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 25 Jul 2019
at 12:00 Image of day on 14 Sep 2019
Out first sighting for several years of a Black-tailed Skimmer spotted on what
is nominally a bird perch stick outside the living room and photographed through the
window. We unusually see blue pruinescence on the underside of the insect.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20190914_df5_20190725_1200_002 black-tailed skimmer dragonfly (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 25 Jul 2019
at 13:21 Image of day on 14 Sep 2019
A trip round the outside of the house sneaked a pic from the other side shows the
conventional appearance from the top with no trace of blue pruinescence.
There is uncertainty about the status of this insect - a juvenile male or a female.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20190914_df5_20190725_1321_022 black-tailed skimmer dragonfly (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 25 Jul 2019
at 12:03 Image of day on 14 Sep 2019
Just to be sure that these pics are different sides of the same Black-tailed
Skimmer, here is a side view taken while approaching for the first attempt to
photograph the 'top' that clearly shows the blue underside and Yellow + Back
top. It flew away on this occasion, but returned about an hour later.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20190914_df5_20190725_1203_016 black-tailed skimmer dragonfly (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 24 Jun 2020
at 07:54 Image of day on 31 Jul 2020
At the corner of the farmer's crop this female Black-tailed skimmer Dragonfly
teased us by landing briefly at various sites.
.jpg)
Ref: 20200731_d73_20200624_0754_107 black-tailed skimmer dragonfly female in wheat crop(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 24 Jun 2020
at 07:55 Image of day on 31 Jul 2020
At the corner of the farmer's crop this female Black-tailed skimmer Dragonfly
teased us by landing briefly at various sites.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20200731_d73_20200624_0755_111 black-tailed skimmer dragonfly female in wheat crop (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 29 May 2020
at 15:58 Image of day on 01 Jul 2020
This immaculate female Black-tailed Skimmer Dragonfly spent several minutes
fluttering around the 'garden' near the house.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20200701_d73_20200529_1558_158 black-tailed skimmer dragonfly female perched on grass stem (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 29 May 2020
at 16:03 Image of day on 01 Jul 2020
This immaculate female Black-tailed Skimmer Dragonfly spent several minutes
fluttering around the 'garden' near the house.
.jpg)
Ref: 20200701_d73_20200529_1603_200 black-tailed skimmer dragonfly female perched on hedging(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 29 May 2020
at 16:00 Image of day on 01 Jul 2020
This immaculate female Black-tailed Skimmer Dragonfly spent several minutes
fluttering around the 'garden' near the house.
.jpg)
Ref: 20200701_d73_20200529_1600_185 black-tailed skimmer dragonfly female perched on nettle stem(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 11 Jul 2015
at 09:22 Image of day on 12 Sep 2015
This Black-tailed skimmer Dragonfly (an immature male judging by
details visible in the original images, and our first sighting of
this species on our patch) appeared before us, flew
around the pond edge and reappeared on this Iris leaf with mandibles
full of an unfortunate moth. A few minutes later we spotted the
Dragonfly on a spent Buddleia flower head across the pond, and
we moved round to the other side for the final image (hence
different lighting). Blended into the right of the bottom image
is an approximately camera resolution detail from the top right
image.
Times are Top left 09:22, Right 09:24, Bottom 09:31
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20150912_df3_20150711_0922_105+0924_115+0931_224 black-tailed skimmer male immature dragonfly who caught and ate moth at main pond 01+03+10 of 10 (montage with detail)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 18 May 2014
at 15:08 Image of day on 17 Jul 2014
Saturday saw the first Damselflies appear. We haven't seen one of these
Blue-tail Damselflies for several years, and that time it was a male.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20140717_da1_20140518_1508_290+1616_349_ft1 blue-tailed damselfly female and pond grass (montage 2)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 01 Aug 2010
at 13:56 Image of day on 10 Sep 2010
A freshly emerged male Blue-tailed Damselfly not yet
in adult colour.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20100910_df1_20100801_1356_058 blue-tailed damselfly teneral male (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 09 May 2024
at 16:21 Image of day on 29 May 2024
Our first sighting of an Odonata (Dragonfly) this year was actually of 2 similar immature
Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonflies basking in the sunshine.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20240529_r70_20240509_1621_293 broad bodied chaser dragonfly immature on desiccated seed head - 1st of 2024 (crop)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 09 May 2024
at 16:21 Image of day on 29 May 2024
Our first sighting of an Odonata (Dragonfly) this year was actually of 2 similar immature
Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonflies basking in the sunshine.
.jpg)
Ref: 20240529_r70_20240509_1621_298 broad bodied chaser dragonfly immature on desiccated seed head - 1st of 2024(r+mb id@576).jpg
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