Banded Demoiselle at Rheola

male Banded Demoiselle

 Encouraged by Jake's report of a good showing of Banded Demoiselles in Cardiff, yesterday, I continued my search for them in the Neath Valley, today. I've noticed that Banded Demoiselle's have been recorded between Tonna and Glyn-Neath in recent years and I've made a few searches for them. A couple of searches upstream from Tonna have been unsuccessful and one upstream from Resolven, following the river, which was also unsuccessful. Today however, was a 'red letter day' (for me), and a male Banded Demoiselle showed well just before Rheola Brook feeds under the A465 (SN84270395). As an added bonus it was joined for a little while by a male Beautiful Demoiselle and they battled for dominance along a prime stretch of vegetated bank in the sun.

male Banded Demoiselle