Red eyed Damselflies underwater laying

[glsammy]

We spent a few hours yesterday by the Grantham canal. We witnessed loads of Red eyed Damselflies laying their eggs. Nothing unusual about that, except for the amazing underwater activity. No doubt they do it all the time, but it's the first time I've witnessed it. I couldn't get as close as I'd have liked to so please excuse the poor quality of the images.






This lone male on the right has a female under him.




In this final one, you can clearly see one couple entirely under water, with another female above them.



What really surprised us was for how long they stayed under. One of this lot were under for what seemed like ages, at one point we thought they must have drowned.

[RoyW]

Like you suggest, this is typical for Red-eyed Damselflies. It's always interesting to witness though, and even though you may have preferred better pics they do show the behaviour very well.