Demoiselle and dragonflies

A lovely morning without a cloud in the sky at 06:00 when I got up (a lie in this morning!) but some cloud did bubble up through the morning.  It seemed like an ideal dragonfly day.

We had our planned visit to Mum and Dad and asked them if they fancied having a walk at the conservation area.  So after a lovely lunch freshly prepared lunch from Mum off we went.  We weren't disappointed as we saw black-tailed skimmer dragonflies (male in top and bottom left) and the female four-spotted chaser (bottom right).  These species are both generically known as common skimmers, but are also called darters or chasers due to their fast and unpredictable flight as well as short periods of hovering.  They were perching on their favoured spot and then flying to mark their territory.

As we were leaving I spotted a demoiselle (top right), which I have never seen there before.  Thankfully it landed and we were able to take some pictures.  I think this is a male banded demoiselle.  These are also known as broad-winged damselflies.  Although they have four wings and narrow-winged damselflies only have two wings.

So there you have it!