Jake Dudderidge has been on the moss at Whixall on 29th June and seen the first few Black Darters. His lovely photo left shows a female with the diagnostic spots on the side of the thorax and the black triangle visible on top of the thorax. You can also see the prominent vulvar scale underneath towards the end of the abdomen. Jake also saw this teneral female Common Darter (below left) with no spots on the side of the thorax, but a pale panel outlined in black, and just a hint of antehumeral stripes on top of the thorax. He also spotted a Four-spotted Chaser form praenubila (below right), so called due to the extra dark markings around the wing nodes and at the wing tips.
Also on 29th June Geoff Hall spotted our first Small Red-eyed Damselflies down at Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre and sent in this great text book photo! (far below). This male shows the ‘bleeding blue’ extending further into the abdomen than in Red-eyed Damselfly and has even captured the black X mark draped across the top of abdominal segment 10.
