My title stems from two documented concepts. In photography, the circle of confusion is used to determine the depth of field, that part of an image which is acceptably sharp. In linguistics, the triangle of meaning is a model of…

[I am indebted to Tony (Ant) Marriot for his picture of a female Southern Skimmer (Orthetrum brunneum) used below … with thanks.] Within the European theatre there are two painfully similar Skimmer (Orthetrum) species, the Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens) and…

[This is something of a partner article to Large Red Females in that both Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) and Small Red Damselfly (Ceriagrion tenellum) females are polymorphic, i.e. they come in multiple colour forms, and in the naming of…

It is generally considered that there are 3 female colour forms of Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula). Or is it? Beginning in 1988, R. R. (Dick) Askew is quite explicit in his seminal volume, The Dragonflies of Europe, which says:…