Tag Archives: Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Environment, Natural History, Walks, Wildlife

Wildlife Walk in Osterley Park

A handsome landscaped lake, forested banks, open water, marginal vegetation … and a mass of algae indicating eutrophication (and a heatwave)

Reed Mace and Water Mint beside the lake

Branched Bur-Reed beside the lake

Small Red-eyed Damselfly; many Black-Tailed Skimmers raced above the water and around the marginal vegetation, with a few Emperor Dragonflies and some blue damselflies (Common Blue or Azure).

Cattle grazing on the dry grass of the pleasantly English parkland landscape, in a prolonged heatwave. (At the end of the month, the Met Office reported that July 2026 had been the driest month they had ever recorded, since 1836 when records began.)

Weld (Reseda luteola), a tall handsome forb even when past flowering.

Female Common Blue butterfly on Creeping Thistle

Meadow Brown, once so common I wouldn’t have thought to photograph it: now declining across Britain, but happily still thriving here at Osterley. Also around the meadow flowers were plenty of Gatekeepers.

Small Copper

Natural History

A Hot Dragonfly Afternoon at Kew Gardens

The heat dome over Europe has made water bodies like Kew’s lake all the more special. In the 30 C heat of the afternoon, the dragonflies sparkle, shimmer, and flash across the water, hardly perching, diving at each other in lightning-rapid defences of territory. This male Ruddy Darter perched long enough between aerial sallies to be pictured.

Common Blue Damselflies skittered about, perching for a few seconds at a time.

Higher over the water, Emperor Dragonflies patrolled ceaselessly. Smaller species like Black-tailed Skimmers and Broad-bodied Chasers flashed low over the water.

Pairs of Small Red-eyed Damselflies settled on the Duckweed near the margin of the lake, the females repeatedly laying eggs while the males clasped their necks.

An extremely tame fox panted in the heat, hoping for dainty morsels of food from nearby picnickers.