Some Greek Dragonflies

Just to get away from Isle of Wight for a moment and mention our holiday to our favourite destination,the Greek Islands.

As a family we love to visit them when we can,and our trip to the island of Thassos in the northern Aegean last August was not a disappointment.I like to wander around close to our accomodation to see the local wildlife although I must say that dragonfly sightings have been few and far between in Greece,

However,on this occasion we were in the right spot.As can be seen the bay is backed by mountains and several streams wind their way across the marshy and rich lowland to the sea.Despite a good deal of developement over the last twenty years some areas of reed and scrub remain which are home to a good selection odonata.

Behind the  beach in the dunes are hordes of Red-veined Darters and in and around the reeds I came across the beautiful Scarlet Darter and the Keeled Skimmer.The latter is the subspecies anceps. which is found particularly in the southern Balkans.In addition a transitional phase Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly popped-up.