Small Red Damselfly in Pembs

tandem pair Small Red Damselfly

 Thanks to Paul Grennard I was able to catch up with some Small Red Damselflies at Dowrog Common, yesterday. The weather was fantastic, for a change, and I noted 22 in flight here including 6 tandem pairs.

male Small Red Damselfly

 During yesterday's visit I only noticed the female form erythrogastrum, which has a completely red abdomen like the male. The male does differ from the female, in having more developed antehumeral stripes, but these are hardly pronounced and in certain lighting can be very difficult to see.

female Small Red Damselfly

 A reliable feature that I find for separating male from female is by comparing the structural differences, whereby the abdomen of the female is fairly consistent in thickness along it's length; the male is much more variable especially when concentrating on S1, S2 (both quite thick) compared to S3 (which tapers along its length).

male Small Red Damselfly

Other Species noted:
1 male Emperor Dragonfly, 1 male Common Hawker, 20+ Common Darter, 10 Emerald Damselfly and 6 Blue-tailed Damselfly