David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital
Video Images
_________________________________________________Dragonflies
and Damselflies 64 – Banded Demoiselles
BANDED
DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLE Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLE Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED
DEMOISELLE Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLE Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLE Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED
DEMOISELLE Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m, f)
BANDED
DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens (m, f)
BANDED
DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens (m)
BANDED DEMOISELLES Calopteryx splendens
(m)
- Banded Demoiselles Calopteryx splendens
inhabit clean, slow flowing rivers in the southern half of Britain and
throughout most of Ireland. This beautiful insect is sensitive to
pollution, and it may therefore be useful as an indicator species. Females
are a bottle-green colour. Males are a deep metallic blue (although they
may appear green in flash photographs) and they have dark blue clouded
areas on each wing which are used for signalling purposes during the
courtship display. These photographs were taken using natural light, with
the intention of illustrating their displaying and reproductive behaviour.
To freeze the action, manual focussing, fast shutter-speeds, and high ISO
settings were used for the in-flight shots, working to best effect in the
first image, in which one of the damselflies cast a shadow and was simultaneously
reflected – a happy accident! Teneral (freshly emerged) damselflies are
often much paler than their fully adult counterparts and a copper colour
may develop in over-mature females. There is only one possible confusion
species in Britain, the Beautiful
Demoiselle Calopteryx virgo, an insect more normally
associated with faster flowing rivers (although some overlapping does
occur). However, there is geographical variation in the extent of the blue
wing-clouding on the Continent, and there are also similar species to look
out for including the Iberian endemic Yellow-tailed
Demoiselle C. xanthostoma.
The mature males of this latter species have blue clouding over virtually
the entire wing area. Females of all Calopteryx species are similar,
and it is perhaps easiest to identify them by association with the males.
- David’s
YouTube films illustrating the
behaviour of Banded Demoiselles
and other dragonflies may be accessed by using the following playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4AirIEc0NofX43b8X-UMfsrsUry8PzwD.
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