Julian Cartwright has been doing some great recording on Titterstone Clee Hill spotting a couple of our Shropshire rarities far earlier than expected. Keeled Skimmer (picture left) has only been recorded at this location once before in 2018 and Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly hasn’t been seen anywhere in the county since 2016! Both were seen around waterlogged wheel ruts. If you look closely at the damselflies you can see the blue marking is on segment 9 and the tip of segment 8. You may also notice the 2 diagnostic slanting black marks on this blue area. In the common and widespread Blue-tailed Damselfly only segment 8 is blue and there are no black marks.
Julian also sent in these excellent photos of Emperor Dragonfly- again being supervised by a damselfly!
