Redeye

Small Redeye (Erythromma viridulum)

The pond does it again! Early last month, Mike spotted a single Small Redeye – a little corker of a damselfly that is a relatively recent arrival to the UK. He called to me (I was photographing hoverflies nearby) but by the time I'd scuttled over, it was already gone. Fast forward a few days, and a trio of males jousted over the lily pads. Fast forward another week or two, and there were dozens of them. On one sunny afternoon in the middle of the month, we counted 35 pairs busily egg-laying on Soft Hornwort (Ceratophyllum submersum) below the pond's surface, with assorted single males frantically trying to get in on the action. Females were regularly submerged underwater for 5 to 10 minutes at a time, methodically placing each egg on a separate bit of plant; the males didn't let go of their grip on "their" female's neck until she was done. After a few frenzied days of activity, they all disappeared, with only a few scattered corpses to show they'd ever been there.

Small Redeyes only arrived in the UK in 1999. From their first toehold, they expanded rapidly across the Isle of Wight and southeastern England, and have now reached as far west as Devon and as far north as North Yorkshire. Their small size, pale pterostigmas (coloured spots near the tips of their wings), pale gray legs and dark abdomen with a blue "tail light" near the end (smaller in females) help to distinguish them from other similar species. And the bright red eyeballs of the males are hard to miss. They fly primarily from June to August, though they can be seen as early as May and as late as September. They frequent ponds, lakes and ditches, and (according to the British Dragonfly Society's website) "seem to be associated with floating vegetation such as Hornwort and Water Milfoil". We can certainly attest to that!

Just a few of the many pairs egg-laying in the pond