This Red-veined Darter caught my attention, returning again and again to a strip of plastic pull-offs. I too am curious as to their purpose but guessing fishing as it lay on an allocated spot. And since I do not have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Odonata genus, further investigation of UK dragonflies confirmed what this creature is. The reason for the red-veined epithet most noticeable in the ruddy male – this, the female, which may explain the curiosity, like Pandora perhaps!
When my camera closes in for a macro look, the Darter dragonfly becomes even more of a curio, seemingly sacrificing a piece of thorax to mount equipment for its bi-plane flight. And the red veins become more obvious as too some dust on those leaded glassy wings.
"...the body straight as a thermometer, the old glass kind that could kill us with mercury if our teeth did not respect its brittle body. Slim as an eel but a solitary glider, a pilot without bombs or weapons, and wings clear and small as a wish to see over our heads, to see the whole picture..." Nancy Willard ~ The Vanity of the Dragonfly
One for Wildlife Wednesday because I maintain a curiosity about the nature world
PoetryPix 