Natural England

Natural England

Gardening with Wildlife in Mind

The Plant Press

© 2006-2008. Database provided and managed on behalf of Natural England by The Plant Press. Designed and implemented by Ideal Integration Ltd

 

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Azure damselfly - Coenagrion puella - Family: Coenagriidae

Azure damselfly - Coenagrion puellaAzure damselfly - Coenagrion puella
© Robin Chittenden www.harlequinpictures.co.uk
UK distribution - East Anglia, Midlands, North, South East, South West

This is the bright blue damselfly that is most commonly found around garden ponds. The males are blue with dark bands across the body, while the females have a black body, sometimes with green flanks. These beautiful insects swarm around ponds in the summer. They can be seen in their mating pairs, laying eggs on submerged plants just below the surface of the water.

The larvae - called nymphs - take a year to develop into adults, hiding and hunting in submerged vegetation before crawling up the stems and leaves of emergent vegetation to transform into flying adults.

Food

Predatory, the adults feeding on midges and other small flies, the larvae feeding on midge larvae and other small aquatic invertebrates.

Plants

Lesser spearwort

Prey

Mosquitoes and midges, Water invertebrates

Predators

Moorhen, Spotted flycatcher