Female Yellow-winged Darter (Sympetrum flaveolum), Finland

The yellow-winged darter, ''Sympetrum flaveolum'', is a dragonfly found in Europe and mid and Northern China. Breeding is confined to stagnant water, usually in peat bogs. Although not resident in the United Kingdom it occasionally migrates there in some numbers. Such 'Invasion Years' occurred in 1906, 1926, 1945, 1953, and 1995. On each occasion a small breeding colony appeared, but they have invariably died out after a few years.

An almost unmistakable darter, red-bodied in the male,.. more