Damselfly Delight.

Being confined to house and garden its not without its pleasures if you are interested in wildlife. Inspection of my ultra violet moth trap which has run overnight was the first task of the day. Numbers of moths have been very low so far this year, both in total and in numbers of species. This has been a common feature of reports from other trappers in the area, so slightly better results than recently were very welcome. Species recorded were Brimstone Moth, Pale Tussock, Treble Lines, Muslin Moth and Hebrew Character. In addition one Cockchafer and a Caddis Fly were caught.
The pale blue flutter of the Holly Blue butterfly has been seen throughout the day, and as the temperature rose to the mid twenties two species of Damselfly emerged from my very small pond, the beautiful Azure which is difficult to separate from the Common Blue without the use of close focus binoculars or an enlarged photo, and the Large Red which requires the binoculars to check on the leg colour. If the legs are black it is a large red, and if they are reddish it is a Small Red. 

Bird life as usual dominated by the Rooks and Jackdaws, with my resident pair of Wood Pigeons getting the occasional look-in.

Large Red Damselfly      Click to enlarge.  Photo. John Elliott

 

Azure Damselfly.  Click to enlarge.  Photo. John Elliott