Romance on the wing

I was walking by Whittington Castle when I saw this pair of ruddy darter dragonflies doing their aerial mating flight. Every so often they dropped to the surface of the water for the female to deposit her eggs. A lone male kept trying to muscle in and have his wicked way with her but they evaded him - at least while I was watching.

There were lots of butterflies around too - a bit of much needed sunshine brings us all out!