Violacea

The damselflies were out in force along the river this morning, particularly the blue-tailed damselflies Ischnura elegans. The males always have blue stripes on the thorax, but the females are more variable. This is a particularly stunning variety, with the immature female having a vivid violet thorax. Not surprisingly it's known as var. violacea.

I've been trying to catch up with e-mails and blips today, inbetween supervising Alex coppicing our lilac and Chris rubbing down the paintwork in the downstairs bathroom. Oh and of course going into town and ordering a new cooker...

I'm sorry that I'm not really managing to comment very much at the moment. The last week seems to have been super busy and I've had little spare time to cope with anything non-essential. As usual, this will probably continue for the next couple of months or so, as I try to catch up with all the work I couldn't do in May.