The sight of a Beautiful Demoiselle 
on the new path whilst out enjoying the monthly walk with the PGWC in May made me think that dragonflies would make an excellent topic to write about.
Despite all the water we have around us, there have only been four species of dragonflies recorded in the garden: 
Beautiful Demoiselle, Azure Damselfly, Golden-ringed Dragonfly and Southern Hawker, although I am half expecting a Banded Demoiselle to show up. Of all the insects, dragonflies are truly spectacular and arguably the demoiselles are the most beautiful. There are only two species, the aptly named Beautiful Demoiselle and the Banded Demoiselle, the former preferring running water, often acidic, with a gravelly bottom, whilst the latter likes slower flowing water with muddy bottoms.
The male Beautiful has dark wings with iridescent blue veins and a metallic blue body: the female dark brown iridescent wings with a green and bronze body. The Banded male is instantly recognisable by its broad, iridescent blue/black wing band, whilst the female’s wings are an iridescent pale green with a white spot near the tip. The Azure Damselfly is much smaller and is easily confused with a whole range of other damselfly species. If interested I suggest you look at Dave Smallshire and Andy Swash’s book ‘Britain’s Dragonflies’, which is one of the best on the subject. Be prepared to get very close indeed to id this one!
The Golden-ringed Dragonfly is readily identified by its size, green eyes and black and yellow striped body. It is a fantastic insect.
Finally, you will not see Southern Hawkers until July or later and one of the best ways of telling them apart from their close cousins is by their inquisitive nature – if a dragonfly flies right up to you and scopes you out, the chances are that it is a SH.
I cannot finish without writing about the birdlife. The dawn chorus at 5am at the end of May was simply amazing. The swifts are back heralding the return of summer, house martins and swallows are zooming around and we have spotted a juvenile Blackcap in the garden – such a cutie! Andrew and Cherry at Mousehall bewail the lack of flycatchers this year but have seen a Red Kite, whilst there are the sounds of Little and Tawny Owls all around late into the night.
Finally, a big thank you to all of you who supported the village open garden scheme.
