Blue Damselfly

Beautiful demoiselle

From May to September, typically on a warm sunny day, you may see damselflies at the pond and along the canal, where they breed, and amongst the tall grass, where they feed. The adults eat flies, mosquitos and moths, catching prey on the wing with their hairy hind legs and then perching to eat.

Beautiful demoiselle

The damselfly head is broad and oblong with widely separated bulging eyes, and short antennae. Unlike dragonflies, at rest the wings of most damselflies lie along the body.

 

Their lifecycle is just one year. Eggs, laid by the female on plants under the water surface, hatch after a week or two. The nascent nymphs, which live in the water, then set to devouring midge larvae and other aquatic insects. After molting, perhaps up to ten times or more as they grow, new adults then emerge the following year, but they only live for a week.

Azure damselfly (U shaped mark below wing base)

Of the 17 UK damselfly species you might see five blue-coloured ones at the pond: beautiful demoiselle, banded demoiselle, common blue, blue-tailed, azure. The males of each species have distinct blue colouring and markings; females can look similar, but may vary in colour.

Azure damselfly

Links to further information and images

 

British Dragonfly Society

The Wildlife Trusts

Shropshire Dragonflies - distinguishing the commoner blue damselflies

What’s the difference?: dragonfly vs. damselfly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yellow Flag Iris

You can see the eponymous golden flowers between May and August, at the edge of the pond. The yellow flag is a marginal plant, so only grows in the shallow water, where it can reach over one metre tall.

The large petals, called falls, have purple veins. Each flower produces a lot of scented nectar which attracts hoverflies and bees, like the common carder bee seen above and below, and on the right with its bottom sticking out of a flower.

In return, of course, the insects adventitiously bring pollen. Once fertilised, seeds will start to form in green capsules, which eventually turn brown and then split to release the brown pea-like seeds.

The plant can soon spread as, besides seeding, its rhizomes also extend underwater. While native to Europe, in some countries, such as the USA, it is red-listed as a non-native, invasive species.

Folk names for yellow flag include Water Skegs, Jacob’s Sword, Swordgrass and Daggers, all alluding to the shape of the grey-green leaves (which are eaten by larvae of the Iris sawfly).

Although not apparently recorded by any Stroudwater clothier, yellow flag was used as a dye for tartans and tweed in the 18th C Scottish textile industry. Depending on the associated mordant, the roots gave black (iron) or blue (copper), while the leaves afforded bright green (alum).

Links to further information and images

The Wildlife Trusts

 

Scottish pollinators

 

Wednesday weed