The Large Red Damselfly16th May 2023
The first damselflies of the year are flying! As usual, Large Red Damselflies (a very common species) are the first to emerge and on warm sunny days they can be seen flying around the ponds. The Bog Garden, Jubilee Hill stream and Pond and the Mirror Ponds are the best places to find them at present, and most of them are flying in tandem. This means that they are mature enough to breed and you see them flying joined together, the male (darker red) in front. The next step is when they form what is known as the figure-of-eight position where mating takes place. Finally, the eggs are laid with the pair “in tandem” again; the female inserts her eggs in batches of as many as 350 into submerged vegetation, on the underside of leaves. Individual damselflies do not live for long, about 7 days, but their season runs from May to September, during which months they can be found in any suitable habitat.