My Garden Pond - White-legged Damselfly

I was just sunning myself in the heat of the afternoon when the flutter of wings of a Damselfly caught my eye... It came to rest next to #MyGardenPool and eventually I relocated after fetching the camera and managed a few shots, clearly a pale immature insect and I knew at a glance it wasn't a garden resident - it was a White-legged Damselfly. Probably having made its maiden flight from the Rea Brook which is one 600m or so down the road...

Difficult to sex but in view of what appear to be claspers, a (probable) immature male...

This close up shows the bristly hairs on the legs which are used to grasp prey...

And a new species for the pond!

Atcham - White-legged Damsellies

The Odonata theme continues... I'm checking out some of Shropshire's residents during July and trying to post informative images to help with ID. Todays special is the White-legged Damselfly and with slow flowing muddy stretches of river a key habitat, the River Severn just downstream of Atcham is good place to see them!

 An immature male, the black markings on the abdomen are not quite complete and he's paler blue.

Adult male with blue coloration and complete black markings on the abdomen...

If you haven't already noticed,White-legged Damselflies have chestnut wing spots!

I'm sure this guy was laughing at me? Showing off his 'inflated tibiae' with white edges.

A very immature female, the lactea phase where the markings on the abdomen are barely developed, just dots on each segment...

Virtually mature, this female has the typical pale yellow-green thorax

Full markings on the abdomen with a touch of drab at the tail end, this will change to green...

Standard ID images can become a little boring so I singled out this obliging male for a bit of macro creativity?

Here's looking at you...

The archetypal 'bug eyed monster'?

If I've whetted your appetite for more? Check out http://shropshirebirder.co.uk/odonata.html for more species and information!