06 Thursday Jun 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature
I spotted my first Banded demoiselle of the season today. Though they’re usually found near water – around ponds and lakes, alongside slow-flowing streams and languid rivers, this female was perched on some garden shrubs in front of a tower block of flats at Cardiff Bay. The wind was blowing the greenery around so my shots are not very sharp but it was a real delight to see one of these little treasures again.
01 Wednesday Aug 2018
One of the many highlights of my recent walk around Arlington Reservoir in East Sussex with my friend Jill was being able to get quite close to several pairs of Banded demoiselle damselflies (while simultaneously heeding Jill’s warning that if I fell in the stream – actually the Cuckmere River – she wasn’t going to rescue me – ha!).
And actually this was off the main Arlington trail, as there was an old church that looked interesting not far away and we’d headed off down a public footpath towards it.
Although I’ve seen a number of Beautiful demoiselles at my local nature reserves in Wales, I haven’t seen any Banded … and they are such gorgeous creatures, especially the bright blue males when they’re flying. Makes me believe in fairies!
If you’re ever in the area, Arlington is a lovely place for a walk, with colourful and insect-rich wildflower meadows and plenty of birdlife, just the right amount of exercise in its circular walk and a cafe with icecreams at the end.
26 Tuesday Jul 2016
On the first day of National Dragonfly Week I showed you the Beautiful Demoiselle; today we have the other damselfly in the Demoiselle species, the only damselflies in Britain to have coloured wings. This is the Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens), and you can see immediately from the bands of colour on the males’ wings how it got its common name.
These damselflies are simply gorgeous, the male (above) a stunning metallic blue and the female (below) an equally spectacular metallic green. Common in Wales and all but the northernmost counties of England, they can be seen flying around lakes and ponds and along canals and slow-moving rivers and streams, from late April to early September. Banded Demoiselles are quite sensitive to pollution so their presence is a good sign that the local water source is clean.
I wonder if this female knew about the spider, or the spider knew about the damselfly?
The male is territorial and also a bit of a show-off. He performs a delightful display of aeronautic dance moves in his attempts to impress the females – the damselfly version of Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing!
