Best time to see: mid May to end Jul

Key facts

A common damselfly around small ponds

Habitat: smaller, sheltered ponds with plenty of emergent vegetation, including garden ponds; sensitive to pollution

One of the commonest damselflies in Britain and Europe, but absent from highland Scotland

Recognition

Male is blue with narrow blue stripes on top of the thorax and a black U-shaped mark; female is black and green

Usually seen perched on or patrolling round vegetation at the edges of water bodies, or feeding at woodland edges

Fly mainly in June and July, but can be found from May to September in good years

Lifecycle

Females lay many clutches of eggs into floating or submerged plants, usually in tandem with a male

Larvae live among living or dead aquatic vegetation, usually taking one year to develop but sometimes two

Most emerge as adults from mid-May to mid-June, climbing emergent vegetation