Emerging damselfly

It has been approximately 7 months since we filled the newly dug wildlife pond with water and added a few oxygenating and marginal plants. Most of the winter it was covered in a thick layer of ice. However soon it became inhabited with life, either arriving of its own accord or brought in on the plants. For me each new discovery evokes a childlike delight.
Today there is evidence of several damselflies emerging. The leaves of some of the marginal plants have the empty larvae cases ( exuvia) of the nymph, left behind after it climbs out of the water where it has spent the last year and emerges as a damselfly. As the nymph spends at least a year developing underwater before emerging, we must assume that the eggs arrived on the vegetation brought in.

Photo: Empty case of Damselfly nymph


Newly emerged, Common blue damselfly