Damselflies

We went out this afternoon looking for more signs of this year's very late arrival of the dragon- and damselflies. Several of last year's best sites have been ruined by the dredging of fleets and ditches over the winter but the site which has until now always produced good sightings - the Wilderness, above - once again came up trumps, despite the cool breeze and some prolonged cloudy intervals.

We found the first red damselfly of the year, almost certainly a large red, sitting on a leaf in the company of a bluebottle.

I'm fairly certain that, from the black 'spur' on its thorax, this is a male azure damselfly while....

....this is very probably the female.

This one has a rather darker abdomen and I can't see the side of the thorax to check for the characteristic spur, but this may also be a female azure damselfly.

The Wilderness had no dragonflies in flight but, at a nearby pond, we did see a couple of dragonflies but too far away for either a picture or any hope of identification - though it's good to know they're around.