Small Red-eyed Damselfly at Brascote Pits

I have been after a Small Red-eyed Damselfly since the first Leicestershire & Rutland records back in 2006. I refused to twitch one instead I have waited expectantly. Last Thursday evening I went over to Brascote Pits to have another look at the orchid extravaganza. It was quite sunny, so I thought I'd check the roadside lake just in case there were any interesting dragonflies or damselflies. In one of the corners there are some small lillypads and it was here that I could see several damselflies. A pair were in 'cop' and straight away they looked interesting. I am very familiar with Red-eyed Damselfly having looked at lots trying to find a SRED.

Something was slightly different about these two. Slightly more blue was apparent on the male and its eyes were a different shade of red compared to Red-eyed Damselfly. Also they were small and dainty. I only had my small compact camera with me with just a 3.6 x zoom lens. I was able to take an image and by zooming it up in the camera I could see the salient features. The best way to re-produce the image was to take a photo of the back of the camera, as there were too few pixels left when cropping the image.

Pair of Small Red-eyed damselflies at Brascote Pits June 30th 2016

The blue on the underneath and sides of the male's segments 2 and 8 are diagnostic as well as the x mark on segment 10. The x is just about visible with a bit of imagination. Also the female has a lot of blue on her thorax. The female Red-eyed Damselfly does not turn blue apparently.

I submitted the sighting to naturespot and one of the experts gave it the thumbs up.

Below is a photo of a Red-eyed Damselfly taken at the same location yesterday.Its a shame I couldn't relocate the Small Red-eyed Damselflies, but hopefully there is still time to see them again.

Red-eyed Damselfly, Brascote Pits July 2nd 2016