NEW HYTHE DAMSELS

I'd heard that there were some Banded Demoiselles and a Beautiful Demoiselle around the stream that flows quite fast alongside the road at the bottom of Lunsford Lane. This stream actually flows around 'our' lake, which I can't access any more, and then eventually becomes the Millstream in the country park.

Although the sky was grey, it was actually very warm, so Ithought i'd pop down there and see if I could see them.

There were probably half a dozen stunning male Banded Demoiselles along the small stretch of reed fringed water. They weren't very active, but that suited me just fine and I was able to get a few shots of my favourite damselfly.

I also found several of the metallic green females who all seemed to favour the far bank vegetation this afternoon making it difficult to get a close up. They aren't as eye catching as the males I don't think but a nice looking damsel in her own right I think.

Unfortunately there was no sign of the Beautiful Damselfly, although I bumped into Alan Woodcock and he had seen it about 40 minutes earlier. I'll try again tomorrow if I get the chance.

There were a couple of Hairy Hawkers patrolling the stream along with dozens of Blue-tailed Damselflies like the one above. As well as a few like the one below which I presume are the immature form rufescens which IF i'm right will mature as pale brown infuscans-obsoleta according to my book. I find this stuff quite confusing, so please correct me if i'm wrong.