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TranslateSympetrum Striolatum
Sympetrum Striolatum (Common Darter) Length 37mm wing-span 57mm
Mid-June to November, (all year round in southern Europe)
Sympetrum species are very variable in colouration particularly as the adult dragonfly reaches maturity, so are not always easy to tell apart from other species.
Males turn red as they mature and females darken with age, becoming a dark chocolate brown; sometimes developing a blue colouration to the bottom of the abdomen. The wings also develop a brown tinge with age and in all cases the legs have a cream or yellow stripe on a black background - this is a diagnostic feature of this species. The pterostigma (The pterostigma (plural: pterostigmata) is a group of specialised cells in the outer wings of the dragonfly) of the females can be red, blue, pale blue or brown.
Habitats… A wide range of habitats, especially preferring warm stagnant waters, but also can be abundantly found on lake-sides, ponds, canals and slow-flowing rivers. They are ambush predators, waiting on a prominent perch for its prey to fly past. They are territorial on their breeding waters, often attempting to chase much bigger dragonflies away such as Southern Hawkers. In suitable hunting areas away from water, they are not territorial: large numbers may assemble - groups of several hundred in a single field have been recorded - and lines of insects can be seen along the top of field gates.
They have a habit of repeatedly returning to a particular sunny spot which helps to predict where they are going to land, so it can be one of the easiest dragonflies to photograph.
Eggs are not laid, but broadcast from the air: the male holds the female in tandem and swings her down and forward over water. At the furthest point of the arc the female releases some of her eggs to fall on the water, the larvae develop in one year.
This is one of the most abundant dragonflies in Europe, and populations show no evidence of declining, found throughout England and Wales except on very high ground.
Here we have images of a mature female on the leaf and an immature female on a dying thistle. Also images of a young male, alert on a protruding stick.
Read MoreMid-June to November, (all year round in southern Europe)
Sympetrum species are very variable in colouration particularly as the adult dragonfly reaches maturity, so are not always easy to tell apart from other species.
Males turn red as they mature and females darken with age, becoming a dark chocolate brown; sometimes developing a blue colouration to the bottom of the abdomen. The wings also develop a brown tinge with age and in all cases the legs have a cream or yellow stripe on a black background - this is a diagnostic feature of this species. The pterostigma (The pterostigma (plural: pterostigmata) is a group of specialised cells in the outer wings of the dragonfly) of the females can be red, blue, pale blue or brown.
Habitats… A wide range of habitats, especially preferring warm stagnant waters, but also can be abundantly found on lake-sides, ponds, canals and slow-flowing rivers. They are ambush predators, waiting on a prominent perch for its prey to fly past. They are territorial on their breeding waters, often attempting to chase much bigger dragonflies away such as Southern Hawkers. In suitable hunting areas away from water, they are not territorial: large numbers may assemble - groups of several hundred in a single field have been recorded - and lines of insects can be seen along the top of field gates.
They have a habit of repeatedly returning to a particular sunny spot which helps to predict where they are going to land, so it can be one of the easiest dragonflies to photograph.
Eggs are not laid, but broadcast from the air: the male holds the female in tandem and swings her down and forward over water. At the furthest point of the arc the female releases some of her eggs to fall on the water, the larvae develop in one year.
This is one of the most abundant dragonflies in Europe, and populations show no evidence of declining, found throughout England and Wales except on very high ground.
Here we have images of a mature female on the leaf and an immature female on a dying thistle. Also images of a young male, alert on a protruding stick.
