Vic Savery sent me these excellent photos of Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo), which he took at Three Brooks Nature Reserve in Bradley Stoke yesterday. Demoiselles are our largest damselflies, and one of our most noticable and easily-recognised, and like the Common Clubtail I featured in an earlier post, mainly river-dwelling species.
 |
 |
| Beautiful Demoiselle, 14 June 2013, Bradley Stoke, Bristol, Vic Savery (naturenutz.net) | |
There are two species of demoiselle in Britain; Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens), the other species, has a narrow dark patch across the wings in males, with extensive clear areas at both the base and tip, and has a blue rather then blue-green abdomen. Female Bandeds are more similar in appearance to female Beautiful Demoiselle, but with green-tinged rather than brown wings. There are other species of demoiselle in continental Europe, including the Copper Demoiselle (Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis) with a copper-red abdomen.
Beautiful Demoiselle prefers faster-flowing streams with stony riverbeds, whereas Banded likes slower-flowing muddier-bottomed rivers; however the two are often found together, indicating some overlap in the types of river they prefer. Ther British distributions differ: Beautiful Demoiselle is mainly found in Wales, southern and western England, with an outpost in western Scotland, whereas Banded Demoiselle is found throughout England and Wales but only just makes it into southern Scotland.
Around Bristol, both species are found on many of our rivers and streams, including the Avon, Chew, Cam, Wellow, Yeo, and both the Bristol and Bath River Fromes. They are also often found away from rivers (e.g. around ditches on the North Somerset levels, or at ponds and lakes throughout the region).
The Bristol wildlife blog 