Categories
David

Banded demoiselles, male, sharing a leaf, Stratford

Banded demoiselles, male, sharing a leaf, Stratford

Male demoiselles, brightly coloured damselflies, spend much of their time on sunny days resting on waterside leaves, displaying themselves. Should a second male come in to land close to where one is already resting, they both take to the air. There’s a brief skirmish, ending with the intruder finding its landing place a little distance away and the other settling back into its old position.

I don’t remember ever seeing two males settled so close as these before, both on the same leaf. Occasionally, one or other of them would take off, fly around for a brief time, then land again where it had previously been.