D,E,F – Damselfly, Eft and flowers

Whilst working on stage 2 of the testudarium today I had plenty of time to look out for interesting things in the garden. The first things I spotted was the first damselfly of the year. This is a Large Red damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula), it was probably a female and had only recently emerged from the pond as it was rather reluctant to fly (which meant photographing it wasn’t too tricky):

Whilst clearing a bit of space in the greenhouse I found this young smooth newt (Triturus vulgaris). It seemed an odd place for the eft to have taken up residence seeing as it’s rarely cool and damp in the greenhouse… although there are plenty of invertebrates for it to eat. That said, I decided it best to move the eft back out into the garden.

Also, one of my favourite plants is in bloom at the moment. Water Avens have absolutely fantastic flowers, they remind me of old-fashioned street lamps. This plant caught my eye as I’ve never seen so many blooms from one plant before: