The colour of the day at Cosmeston today was blue: not only did I find numerous Common blue butterflies (I stopped counting at 25) but I also spotted several Common blue damselflies. And here they are …

A pristine male Common blue butterfly

A no-less-pristine but not as blue Common blue female

A male Common blue damselfly

Don’t be fooled by the colour differences here – mature female Common blue damselflies can take three different colour forms: blue, brown (a yellowy orange) and the typical form, which is greenish.

And, just to confuse things, the males are usually a pinkish-purple when they first emerge and take a few days to acquire their true blue colouring. You can, however, tell they’re males by the solid blue colour of their two bottom abdominal segments.