Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens)
This is our most beautiful damselfly and indeed calopteryx means beautiful wing. The male has a metallic blue body and deep blue wing patch whilst the female is metallic green including green suffused wings.
Female Banded Demoiselle
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Male Banded Demoiselle
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Maximum numbers on the reserve are probably in the low hundreds and the main flight period is from late May to early August, peaking in mid-July. The male courtship involves him fluttering his banded wings rapidly in front of his mate with whom he later joins in tandem, grasping her by the front of the thorax. In final copulatory pose all Odonata adopt the "mating wheel" position, the female turning her abdomen beneath the male to extract his sperm.
The species prefers lowland rivers and flowing water with a muddy bottom and emergent waterside vegetation on which they spend time resting and sunning and where, at the roots of the vegetation, the larvae develop. The males hold territory along the river bank and, to a lesser extent, along the pit sides near the river. The females, which have weaker flight, are to be found in the rank grasslands along the river when not being courted or laying in the male territories. They lay their eggs in plant stems below the water whilst the male looks on.
Along the riverside towpath one can sometimes find many detached wings, presumably the remains of bird predation. The Sedge Warbler is believed to be a main culprit.
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