More from 23 July, and the wander around Forest Farm Nature Reserve that I blogged about yesterday …
I’d enjoyed a lovely walk alongside the river Taff, along the various different paths through the reserve, beside the canal, and was heading for the train when I decided to check the orchard pond one more time. My decision paid off!

There still weren’t many large dragonflies but something about some of the blue damselflies made me look at them more closely. My eyesight isn’t the best so I wasn’t able to pick out exact species indicators but their flight pattern and colouration looked different enough for me to take a couple of photos to check more closely. Emerald damselflies!

I’d only seen Emerald damselflies (Lestes sponsa) three times previously so I was delighted to find them at Forest Farm. And, after checking iRecord later at home, I discovered they’ve been recorded there since 2014, though not every year – I’m not sure if that’s down to a lack of damseflies some years or a lack of people recording their sightings. I’ll certainly be checking for them again next year, and this sighting has also prompted me to check iRecord for other species I might have overlooked.