Damsel Day

Sunday 9th August

Last Sunday was something of a "damsel day".

The summer has come in short bursts of a few hours here and the odd day there. Not the promised long hot barbecue summer but just fleeting glimpses of high intensity sun to warm the bones. No wonder last minute holidays are doing so well this year. The log burning stove has even had occasional use during July and August which seems most bizarre.

The larger winged insects who seem to rely on hot summers to make flying easier, have had to take each chance as it has come. Last Sunday was one of them. The electric-blue damsel flies were out in force and what a show. Usually this means seeing 4 or 5 together but there were squadrons of them flitting along the edge of the lake, pairing up and partaking in aerial displays and sorties, hovering over the water and perching on the rushes and reeds.

There was even the occasional heavy set dragonfly, so little seen this year but made visible in the glorious sunshine of this our Sunday-afternoon-summer. Who would want to be a weather-person?

Naturally I broke the first rule of the valley, which is to always carry a camera, so I have no photo to record the event which means you will have to imagine them all...