VISITORS will soon be able to witness the full life cycle of native invertebrates at a Slimbridge wildlife centre.

WWT Slimbridge is working towards being able to exhibit the fascinating life stages of damselflies to visitors at its new Living Wetland Theatre.

Over the last few months, Jay Redbond, resident amphibians Living Collections supervisor, has trialled rearing two common species of damselfly nymphs, the azure and the blue-tailed damselflies, which are commonly seen throughout the UK.

The trial was carried out in behind the scenes facilities of WWT Slimbridge and the results were the successful metamorphosis of the azure and blue-tailed nymphs into damselflies.

The azures hatched out earlier than expected, before the enclosure was fully completed and therefore have not been seen breeding.

However, the blue-tailed damselflies have been witnessed breeding.

In the coming months, there is the possibility of seeing the nymphs emerge from the eggs that have been laid by these blue-tailed damselflies.

This enables WWT Slimbridge to now be in a position to demonstrate the entire life cycle of damselflies - from the underwater larvae stage through to adult stage - and share this with visitors as part of the Slimbridge 2020 Living Wetland Theatre experience.