Beautiful by name, beautiful by nature……….

This is such an exciting time of year for our wildlife ponds.  Suddenly there are dragonflies and damselflies everywhere including a good number of Beautiful Demoiselles this year.  This graceful and colourful creature, with its transparent brown wings and bright turquoise body, immediately takes to the air around the garden and perches elegantly on the tops of the hedges or on our hawthorn blossom.  A careful search in the long grass around the Big Pond will reveal the abandoned larval shells of some of the larger Libellula dragonflies that wait a while to develop fully before taking to the wing. They can often be found in the early morning, still perched on their empty case.  Once these large species are on the wing, territorial jostling ensues.  Several species of small, bright blue damselflies are also emerging now and it takes a while for their colours to develop.  At this stage they are pale or transparent and I find it hard to identify them.  In all the ponds are very active in early summer and I love to take a minute to sit and watch the dragonflies prowling and swallows dipping down to drink from the still water surface.