As I mentioned in yesterday’s post on Common Blue damselflies, it’s often difficult to distinguish between them and the Azure damselflies so here now is the lovely little Azure (Coenagrion puella).

The key identifying features for the Azure are: the presence of a Coenagrion spur (a short black line below the other markings) on the thorax, and thin antehumeral stripes (the blue stripes on the top of the body are narrower than the black stripes beneath them). The males also have a U-shaped mark at the top of their ‘tail’ but this is not so easy to see in the females (which are usually green or pale blue) as they often have darker markings on their ‘tail’. Once again, if this is confusing, check out the British Dragonfly Society webpage for more help.

Though the Azure isn’t keen on the colder parts of northern Scotland, both the Azure and the Common Blue can be seen throughout most of Britain, fluttering around small ponds, streams and lakes. I also see them amongst the long grass at my local cemetery where I presume their water source is the rain that accumulates in the urns that decorate many of the older graves, though I can’t be sure of that.