What is buzzing or flying near you today??

Caught these two this morning,



This ones a bit blurred but he's chewing on a greenfly.

 

Pete looks like the Banded Demoiselle (calopteryx slpendens)the male is the blue one the female is the green, wonderful predators they will even tackle butterflies.

 

Thanks walnut, I thought they were diferent kinds, didn't occur to me that they could be male and female of the same kind.

 

Beautiful pictures bob and Pete. I took a couple of kids from school out for a nature walk this afternoon, and spotted a bunch of teeny spiders too. Fascinating! Didn't have my camera with me though!

Banded damoiselle remind me so much of holidayng in Herefordshire/shropshire where I first saw what I thought were fairies dancing by the waters edge. They are quite stunning (especially the male with the inky blue spots on his wings).

 

Snapped this little fella having a breather on one of my lilly buds.

 

Now thats what I call a close up, Pip.
I caught these two today, think the second one must have overwintered, it looks a bit tatty.

 

Great shots everyone, thanks for sharing.

Your smiley-faced spiderlets are so dinky bobj!

pete, the dragonflies are superb, such beautiful insects. I've seen a golden one several times in our garden, now I am wondering if it was perhaps a female Demoiselle with the sun shining on her wings. Or is there a golden-winged one Walnut?

 

Kedi the Common Darter (sympetrum striolatum)is a possibility,
Males
have a brown thorax with broad, yellow, oblique bands on the sides and a pair of weak, dirty yellow stripes immediately behind the eyes. The abdomen is weakly constricted one third of the way down and is brick to blood red with a black marking down the midline on the two penultimate segments. The wings are pigmented pink to red at their extreme bases and become tinted amber in older specimens. Females
are similar to the males but their abdomens are a yellow to mid brown colour.When viewed from the top would probably look golden.

 

Thanks walnut but this wasn't it, the one I have seen a couple of times was more golden.

 

Hi, Kedi!
Did you see the insect at rest? If you did, and it held its wings parallel to its body, it was a damselfly. If it held them at right angles to its body, it was a dragonfly. There is a golden-coloured (sort of!) dragonfly called Aeshna grandis which is claimed to be "easily distinguished by amber wing membrane". Found throughout Europe but mostly in the southern mountains. Also Sympetrum flaveolum with yellow patches in the wings close to the body - but the body is quite red.

Or was the body itself yellow/golden in colour rather than the wings? There's Onychgomphus uncatus which has a clear yellow body - but it favours fast-flowing streams.

Does this help at all?? Must admit I don't know of any golden-coloured damselflies...

 

You guys are getting me all mixed up now! I checked out what you wrote Hyla but it isn't any of them, am now leaning towards Pete's. I only saw them a few times and then they unfortunately didn't stay put so I could get a really good look, I just saw a "dragonfly" glinting in the sun and it looked rather golden. Perhaps I'll get lucky and see another one this year.

I didn't know that about the wing position of damselflies and dragonflies Hyla, very interesting. I shall pay more attention when I see one or the other in future.

Thanks everyone!

 

This one wasn't flying and it wasn't buzzing, but it was chomping, on a verbascum.

I dare say it will be flying at some stage.

 

He's a colourful chap, isn't he?

 

Well this was buzzing over my garden for a long long time. I don't know what they were up to. Do you think I should give it the title "pigs might fly"?

:D :D