Saturday 27 June 2015

Day 236 - Beautifully Delicate Blue Damselflies

Blue Damslefly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
Hey everyone today's Day 236 and I often go to places where I find many, many dragonflies. I love seeing them everywhere I go. They are beautiful insects to see and I am sure all of you like to see them as well. Some places that I go to to see them are Silton Forest (a place I go to regularly), Norfolk Wildlife Trusts Hickling Broads (When I go on holiday I come here, I once saw at least 100 dragonflies at one time!) and finally, Stavely Nature Reserve.

In all of these places I see the lovely Blue Damselfy! They are one of my favourite things to watch and they will be a lovely insect to cover.

So, here are the facts:

Emerging on a reed.
  • They are found in every part of England, Scotland and Wales as well as the border between Northern and the Republic of Ireland.
  • They use their average 40mm wings and their 32mm length between May and September in the flight season.
  • They are found on most Lakes and Ponds where they are usually the most common species their.
  • The Males are blue (as the name suggests) with black spots but the Females are actually a sort of Yellow. 
Found a mate 
  • The eggs hatch into larvae called nymphs which then climb up a suitable stem to moult into damselflies.
  • When mating, the Males clasps the Female by the neck and she them moves her body around to his reproductive organs. This is called a mating wheel. You can see it in this picture by CharlesJsharp.
  • Weirdly, they often all perch on stems of plants around one pond and all point in one   direction.
  • There are several ways to tell them apart from other damselflies and even dragonflies. Damselflies rest with their wings closed on their body. You know it's one of these as they seem to drift through the air and, well, they're blue.
Here are some links to some more information:
"Common blue damselflies (Enallagma cyathigerum) female dull green form mating wheel" by Charlesjsharp - Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Common_blue_damselflies_(Enallagma_cyathigerum)_female_dull_green_form_mating_wheel.jpg#/media/File:Common_blue_damselflies_(Enallagma_cyathigerum)_female_dull_green_form_mating_wheel.jpg
"Common blue damselflies (Enallagma cyathigerum)
form mating wheel" by Charlesjsharp - Sharp Photography




Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

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4 comments:

  1. Natasha27 June 2015 at 20:56

    Absolutely love damselflies, they're so pretty! - Tasha

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lancashire and Lakeland Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris28 June 2015 at 11:58

    Top blog on top insects Zach.
    Top pic is an Azure damselfly, Coenagrion puella; look at the U shape like the Honda cars logo on S2 on the abdomen just behind where wings join the body. The mating pair are Common Blues S2 shape is a ball on a stick, a bit like our giant mirror ball here in Blackpool

    Can't wait to see what'll you'll post next, keep up the good work

    Cheers

    DaveyMan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Zach Haynes28 June 2015 at 15:05

      Thanks DaveyMan - yes, realise now it is an Azure, thanks to you and @birdbrain for the tip off. Another species I'll be able to identify now :-)

      Delete

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