Mystery Damsel at Mud Lake

On one Sunday in mid-July Chris Lewis, Mike Tate and I went to Mud Lake to look for dragonflies. It was a beautiful warm morning, and we were hoping to catch up with the Blue Dasher and Halloween Pennant that Mike had found there earlier in the week. Both of these dragonflies were new for the Britannia list, and I was especially hoping to find the Halloween Pennant as it would be a lifer for me.

When I first arrived I noticed a large dragonfly zipping above the road near the top of the trees. When it landed in one of the dead trees I pointed it out to Chris and Mike. I could see the dark spots on the wings which identified it as a Prince Baskettail, one of my few sightings of this species.