Numbers of dragons and damselflies are building with all this hot weather, and with them come the predators! Ron Kinrade has been viewing blackbirds taking their share (left) on his pond in Hemford though some have hopefully made their maiden flight leaving behind their exuviae like that of a Broad-bodied Chaser (below left). On my own pond I have numerous damselflies and a Broad-bodied Chaser holding territory, but I have yet to see a chaser exuviae….and we have a lot of garden birds!?
Elsewhere in Hanwood Jan Shields has been photographing some of her pond residents including this female (blue form) Azure Damselfly (below right). Azure Damselflies tend to be far more common on garden ponds than the Common Blue which tends to prefer larger water bodies.
