David Williams had a very successful trip to Dudmaston this weekend seeing the first Black-tailed Skimmers and Red-eyed Damselflies of 2018. Pictured here this Black-tailed Skimmer may be a teneral male or female, closer inspection being required to ascertain which. As males mature they develop a powder blue pruinescence that masks the yellow and black patterning apart from the black tail area. David also saw Azure, Common Blue, Blue-tailed and Large Red Damselflies. He then moved on to the River Severn enjoying a fleeting Clubtail, White-legged Damselflies (below right) and over 50 Banded Demoiselles. The fabulous photo below left shows one of the female Demoiselles enjoying a spot of Mayfly lunch!
Elsewhere, Peta Sams has been falling over ‘100s and 100s’ of Beautiful Demoiselles on the River Corve between Ludlow and Bromfield and Stuart Bolt has even been seeing dragonflies near Sainsburys in Telford! Stuart has sent in this lovely clear shot of an Azure Damselfly and the 2 pictures below of a male Broad-bodied Chaser (left) and a female Broad-bodied Chaser (right) ovipositing. Much more exciting than my trip to the supermarket!
