New odonate

Amost all the excitement of rarities, night singers and guiding there was also been some butterfly and odonate action. The odonate (dragon and damselflies) action was actually really cool and a dream come true.

We are having very hot weather at the moment which is good for insect action and there are lots of flowers out now. The variety of both butterflies and odonate increases day by day but the quantity is surprisingly low – hopefully this is down to it still being early in the season.

My dream come true was finally finding a Broad-bodied Chaser or blåbredlibelle in Norwegian. This species is common further south in Europe but Oslo is right on the northern edge if its range and there have only been a handful of previous records here. I think what has always made me want to find this species is the blue colour of its body – Cambridge blue I believe. I found it by a tiny drainage pond on Friday and its presence in exactly the same spot on Saturday and Sunday shows that it has established a territory and is waiting for a female to fly by. The pond looks like it will dry up if the summer is hot so I don’t think he will be doing much to establish the permanent presence of his species in Oslo.

I also saw my first ever Large Red Damselfy (rødvannymfe) although this is a widespread species and one I should have seen before and I got to see Downy Emerald (smaragdlibelle) and White-faced Darter (småtorvlibelle) better than I have ever managed before.

Broad-bodied Chase (blåbredlibelle) - a rare species as far north as Oslo and my first sighting. Fantastic colours! 

the chosen puddle with Jr Jr for size comparison

Large Red Damselfly (rødvannymfe)

White-faced Darter (småtorvlibelle)

Downy Emerald (smaragdlibelle) - male due to the broad body

female which has a more parallel shapred body

and a Beautiful Demoiselle (blåpraktvannymfe)