Darter

Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum)

Our pond continues to entice new visitors to the garden. Recent transients included this young male Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum), which spent a half hour or so checking out various perches near the water. It looks a bit like the Red-veined Darter that made an even briefer appearance a few weeks ago, but with some readily apparent differences. For one thing, its stigmata (those blocks of colour near the end of its wings) are dark rather than pale, as are the veins on its wings. For another, its legs are completely black, lacking the yellow stripes shown by the Red-veined and Common (Sympetrum striolatum) darters. It has small patches of yellow at the base of its hindwings, and some dark blotches on the lower side of each abdomen segment, and its abdomen is slightly club-shaped at the tip. When he reaches full adulthood, he'll be bright red with dark brown eyes, like the one below, which showed up about a week after the youngster. Females are bright yellow, darkening somewhat as they age.

This is a common species across much of Europe east to Siberia, though missing from most of the Iberian Peninsula and the far north. In the UK, it is one of the commonest darter species in the southeast, and its range is spreading north and west. It particularly likes standing or slow-moving waterways that are well-vegetated, even in shady woodland areas and often when they're eutrophic (i.e. heavily nutriented). Our pond, which is becoming increasingly eutrophic despite our best efforts, sounds perfect for it. Ruddy Darters fly primarily from June through September, but can be seen as early as May and as late as November. We'll be keeping an eye out for more of them.