When we visited Itchen Valley Nature Reserve last month, we saw a banded demoiselle. And that made me ask myself which damselfly and dragonfly species I'd actually seen before in my life?
I definitely remember seeing blue and red damselflies in the past, and some years ago, when we were having lunch near a stream in the New Forest, we saw what we later could identify as a southern hawker.
But definitely the most memorable encounter with a dragonfly was almost exactly three years ago at Stoney Cross Plain in the New Forest: this golden-ringed dragonfly landed on our bag. It was clearly at the end of its life, as it allowed me to pick it off our bag and let it crawl onto my hand.
Isn't it a gorgeous beast?
Unlike with butterflies, where I was already familiar with the ten or so common and 'showy' species, we'd be starting from almost complete scratch with damselflies and dragonflies.
Field guide duly ordered!
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