Sympecma paedisca, originally uploaded by sulka.

The year’s first dragonfly sightings were done yesterday. This is quite exceptional – we beat the old record for the fist sighting by nearly a month. That is to say, we can really feel the global warming in Finland right now.

The species is Siberian Winter damselfly (or Sympecma paedisca) which is quite exceptional as a dragonfly species in that it hibernates over the winter as an adult. The other species are sitting down in frozen ponds as larvae. The early flight is the result of this way of hibernation, the adults take flight immediately when the temperatures reach 12-13 degrees celsius. Other dragons have to wait until the water temperatures go up which takes considerably longer.