Look at the claspers on that! I nearly fainted when I realised what the little green Ischnura-like damsels were that were flying low through marginal vegetation at Landträskdammen this morning.
Hallowed be thy name. Ever since I started looking at dragonflies in 1986 I have wanted to see Coenagrion armatum or Norfolk damselfly. It went extinct in Norfolk in 1957 and has not been seen in the UK since. Well today I found a thriving colony at Landträskdammen in northern Gotland, not only a much-wanted lifer but the first record for the island. Result! Within seconds of identifying my first armatum I turned round and was face to face with my first Sympecma fusca. Too good. Two lifers in two minutes. Also present here were Coenagrion pulchellum, Coenagrion hastulatum, Leucorrhinia rubicunda and Libellula quadrimaculata.
Sympecma fusca - not the most exciting looking of the European Odonates but this one over-winters as an adult which makes it special in my book. My second dragonfly lifer of the day.
Congrats! Have been looking for armatum in four different locations in Skåne the past weeks with absolutely no success what so ever.
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