The Damselflies of Cullaloe

First of all, I'm going to have to apologise. I know that I've promised an update on the open day, but both me and Janie have been incredibly busy over the past couple of weeks and neither of us has had a chance to do it. Hopefully Janie will be able to provide a full update on the open day in the next few days. Rest assured that a good day was had by all!
I'd also like to apologise for the lack of updates on the species list (It should be huge by now, since there's so much going on!), but again, I've not really had the time to do it.

In the meantime, I figured I would show everyone pictures of the three damselfly species we currently have on the reserve.

The first one I'd like to show you, and the one that you're most likely to see on the reserve is the Common Blue Damselfly. When you see males flying around (like the one in the picture) it's like a big flash of blue that's passing you by!


The second damselfly we have on offer (I sound like I'm trying to sell something here!) is the Blue-Tailed Damselfly. This one isn't quite as striking as the Common Blue, but is a beautiful damselfly, all the same. You're more likely to see this species either at the Filter Beds or near the Spillway.


And finally, we have the Large Red Damselfly. This one is rather special for me, since as far as I'm aware, it has not been recorded on the reserve before. The only place i have seen these is at the Filter Beds, just off from the car park.


It's definitely a great site to see these wonderful creatures hovering over the water or the surrounding plants, looking for prey (They feed on other insects... midges are a favourite of theirs, so they're double good to see!) and I don't think it will be long now till we get the full blown Dragonflies out on the reserve. I know that when they were pond dipping during the open day a few dragonfly nymphs were captured, so it's a relatively safe bet that we'll get a decent hatching soon.

Speaking of hatchings. If anyone is planning on visiting the reserve in the next week or two, please watch where you put your feet!
This year's batch of frogs and toads are on the loose, and there are hundreds of them jumping around along the path, particularly near the loch. Please keep an eye out for them while you're walking about.