Wednesday 11 August 2010

Damselfly ID Needed

Spotted a very dark coloured damselfly over the garden pond which led me a merry dance trying to photograph it. By the time I had fetched the camera it was nowhere to be seen, I stood by the pond for ages waiting to see if it would appear again. Finally I looked down and there it was resting on the rim of a planter about a foot away from my leg. I would say it is slightly shorter than my resident Blue-tailed Damselflies but with a thicker body.

Unknown Damselfly

Unknown Damselfly

My ID sheet mainly shows damselflies from above so I can't tell which have the dull yellow ochre which this one has underneath.

As for the head banging fly from last Friday. It got mentioned in dispatches - well a poem anyway - along with other creatures in a Poem written by Glo on her blog Porcelain Rose.

Following a suggestion from Matron I have joined the Nature Plus section of the Natural History Museum. There I have put the photo of the red-eyed fly to see if they will come up with an identification.
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10 comments:

  1. ADRIAN11 August 2010 at 21:14

    John Looks like a female blue, but the ones I have seen are more brown/ orange. The marks on the thorax are the same....What do I know, ask Helen at
    http://dragonflies-and-damselflies.blogspot.com/
    She can recognise individuals from the same family...slight exaggeration but don't tell her.

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  2. The Wessex Reiver12 August 2010 at 10:34

    Hi John, my guess from the photo is a local form female Blue-Tailed of which there are 5. nearest I got was form infuscans-obsoleta. All females of the blue are very difficuly to properly identify unless in the hand so to speak. Will look forward to a positive id. Andrew

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  3. Matron12 August 2010 at 13:26

    I'll be interested to hear what the NHM come up with for you. I am trying to identify a black furry caterpillar, so I might try them if nothing comes up.

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  4. FAB12 August 2010 at 21:16

    Hi John. As far as I can tell this is a female Common Blue, one of the immature drab forms.

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  5. holdingmoments13 August 2010 at 00:18

    I'd be inclined to go with Common Blue female, John. The single 'stripe' on the thorax clinches it for me.

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  6. Midmarsh John13 August 2010 at 08:51

    Thanks for that Adrian. It seems to be the consensus that it was a female common blue.

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  7. Midmarsh John13 August 2010 at 08:53

    Thank you The Wessex Reiver for visiting and commenting. All seem to agree that it was a female common blue.

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  8. Midmarsh John13 August 2010 at 08:56

    Hello Matron - no answer yet but I think staff answer those questions as an extra service and we are in the holiday period as well.

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  9. Midmarsh John13 August 2010 at 08:58

    Thanks for that Frank. It fooled me as I don't remember seeing a male common blue near my pond.

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  10. Midmarsh John13 August 2010 at 08:59

    Thank for that Keith. Common blue appears to be the consensus. Maybe I will now have two varieties breeding in the pond.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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