Pyrrhosoma nymphula - Large Red Damselfly

Throughout the UK, but absent from the extreme North and South.

Large Red Damselfly

The Large Red Damselfly favours slow moving streams, still water and even peat bogs, unsurprisingly they are a common sight at Knowetops. The male is very aggressive and terretorial, fighting off any other male intruding on his territory, but the female is larger and heavier, she has to be, in order to carry and lay as many as 500 eggs! The female above is laying her eggs below the water on a plant stem where they should be safe from predators.

Photo - D. Heward

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