By Sally Westwood

I visited the slow flowing stream that runs parallel to the river Deben, on several occasions during the summer, looking for dragonflies. This is my first season of observing and photographing dragonflies and damselflies. I would like to share with you, my field notes. In my last article I discussed damselflies observed in the same location. My focus now turns to dragonflies. My knowledge and learning was obtained from observation, then I researched aspects of behaviour that I saw, such as mating and egg laying behaviour. The most interesting observations of the dragonflies were the different ovipositing behaviour  (laying of eggs), which could be alone or together with mate, and different locations for both mating, and ovipositing. I came across four dragonflies on the riverbank: The Emperor; Southern Hawker; Migrant Hawker, and Common Darter.

Emperor Dragonfly

I observed a fairly large dragonfly laying eggs in June. It was an Emperor (Anax imperator) dragonfly. The Emperor dragonfly is the largest species of dragonfly in the UK. It has an average length of 78mm and average wingspan of 106mm. This species has a mating and flight season between June and August (see the chart below of the flight and mating period of the dragonflies discussed here).

Emperor Dragonfly Ovipositing

By Sally Westwood

I observed a large damselfly in late July whilst walking alongside the slow flowing, fresh water stream that runs parallel to the Deben, near Wilford Bridge. Banded Demoiselles Calopteryx splendens are mostly seen during June and July on sunny afternoons, although you may see them in August and September. Male and female Banded Demoiselles have a striking pattern and colour. The female in the image below, has a metallic emerald thorax and abdomen, with a bronze red tip to the abdomen. The last three abdominal segments have a yellow line¹. The males and females both have translucent light green wings. The females have a small white mark, or pterostigma at the wing tip, whereas the males have no pterostigma^2. Both males and females are 48mm or 1.4 inches in length and their hindwing can be 36mm or 1.4 inches long. This species is present throughout Britain but not in the Scottish highlands. It is common in much of Central Europe including Germany, France, and Poland but absent from European countries that are cold, for example, Scandinavia and those countries that are dry, such as Spain. Their range extends into central and Western Asia. Habitat becomes problematic when flowing freshwater is scarce.

Banded Demoiselle Calopteryx splendens