Geograph - photograph every grid square

A localised species favouring well vegetated ditches and small pools. The insects at Fen Drayton emerged very early, being briefly the most numerous damselfly species before rapidly disappearing (or at least being much harder to find) when thousands of Common Blue damselflies emerged a few weeks later. Many Variable Damselflies had by that point laid their eggs so their job as adults was done. The key identification feature is the wineglass shaped mark just below the wing base, together with the split stripe on the top of the thorax, usually it is like an exclamation mark, but break is larger than normal on this insect - it's variable.