Tricky because female Blue-tailed Damselflies come in 5 colour forms. Two of these forms are immatures; form violacea with a purple thorax that we featured recently on the blog, and form rufescens. The latter is seen here beautifully photographed by John Martin at Venus Pool just south of Shrewsbury. I’ve seen many, but every time I think the contrast of the pink thorax is stunning! This form will mature to rufescens -obsoleta (drab orangey/brown) and form violacea will mature to look like the male or to form infuscans (drab olive green/brown). This is a common and widespread species so a really good chance to practice ID. The most queries I receive relate to old drab females..usually form infuscans or rufescens -obsoleta specimens where the colour change on segment 8 has become so dull it is barely distinguishable.