First damselfly and dragonfly of the year

The weather has been quite warm this weekend (residents in the UK will note that this is unusual) and this has encouraged some of the damselfly and dragonfly nymphs in the pond to emerge and make their final moults.

This was the first damselfly we spotted this year. It’s hard to tell what species it is until they’ve had a chance to develop their adult colours but I almost positive it’s a large red damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). The only other red species of damselfly in the UK is the small red damselfly (Ceriagrion tenellum) but that is rare and is usually restricted to heathland:

Later in the day we also saw our first dragonfly of the year. This is clearly a broad-bodied chaser (Libellula depressa) and is probably female but it’s hard to tell when they’re immature.