Red

Large Red Damsel (Pyrrhosoma nymphula)

While working at my desk this morning, I spotted a movement towards the window and found this Large Red Damsel (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) perched on a candle holder on the windowsill. She must have come in through the office door, which had been open to the day's sunshine. I gave her a poke so that she'd crawl onto my finger, and carried her out to the garden, where she promptly flew off. Fortunately, she was easy to spot when she landed, so I was able to get the above picture while she rested in the sun. This is one of Britain's earliest-emerging damsel species, first appearing in the UK in March or April, with a flight period that extends through September. They're common and widespread across the British Isles, much of Europe and down into north-western Africa. Though they're found in a wide range of wetland habitats, they're most common in well-vegetated standing water, and typically avoid running water. Though we don't have a pond in the garden (yet!), there's a reed and bulrush-ringed pond only a few hundred metres from our property that this damsel may have come from.

Black legs, red lines along the edges of the thorax (the section of the dragonfly behind the head) and small black spots (called pterostigma) in their wings help to separate Large Red Damsels from the much less common Small Red Damsel, which is the only other red damsel in Britain. Damsels have ten abdominal segments, which range a bit in size; these are numbered starting from the head end of the insect. The patterns on those segments can be used to differentiate between males and females, and between individuals of similar-looking species. I can tell this is a female because of the size of the black patches towards the posterior end of her abdominal segments, and because of the yellow rings seen at the joins between those segments. It took this female more than a year to reach adulthood. Last year, she would have been an aquatic larva in a pond somewhere. Once she emerged, she spent 9-15 days fully maturing, and will spend a total of 40 days or so feeding on small flies, looking for a mate and depositing her eggs before succumbing. How cool that she spent part of her time hanging out in our garden — adding a new species to our list!