July and August are the best months to see odonata in flight and the canal is home to several species. Damselflies were most evident particularly banded demoiselle and several other species were hawking the waters edges including azure damselfly, large red damselfly and I got my first photo of a blue-tailed damselfly.
There were also several huge emperor dragonfly patrolling mid-stream but they were too mobile for photos.
I'm not too skilled at odonata identification so I may return tomorrow a little bit earlier for another attempt at some photos, the morning should be a bit cooler and the insects a bit less active.
Other sightings of note were a muntjac deer, a pair of common buzzard and a large grass snake (about 18" long) that swam across the canal from below my feet.
 |
| Blue-tailed damselfly |
 |
| Large red damselfly |
 |
| Male banded demoiselle |
 |
| Male banded demoiselles |
No comments:
Post a Comment