Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Late spring in the Auvergne (France) - 2013

For a few weeks in June 2013 I was in the Auvergne (France) for a holiday with my family. Of course I tried to spot some dragonflies. The first days I saw only a lot of Large Red Damselflies (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). This is an early species and it looked like spring just started in the Auvergne. The females here look a bit different from the ones I know from the Netherlands. More yellow, less red.

What I was hoping for however were lots of Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo). The location looked perfect: cool flowing water in a stream with trees around. But nothing to see. After a week, I spotted one single individual.


Luckily that one turned out to be first of many. During the next days there were dozens of them. All had brown wings, even the males. Males are supposed to have blue wings, but young males appear to have brown wings, just like females.

For the rest, I did not see many odonata species. A couple of Broad-bodied Chasers (Libellula depressa) and, near an artificial lake two Red-veined Darters (Sympetrum fonscolombii). That was it. Just a little bit disappointing.

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Living in the Netherlands.