The Beauty of Coastal Nature: Wykeham's Damselfly Sculpture

Have you ever stopped to admire the beauty of coastal nature? At Wykeham, you'll find a stunningly beautiful damselfly that has been expertly crafted by our talented artist, Emma Stothard, who has created our Coastal Sculpture Collection along the Yorkshire coast.

This sculpture perfectly represents the diversity of flora and fauna that exists along the coast and serves as a reminder of the beauty of coastal nature. In this blog post, we'll be taking a closer look at the damselfly at Wykeham and exploring its beauty and impact on the local landscape.

The Location

The Beautiful Demoiselle is a type of damselfly that can often be spotted at North Yorkshire Water Park and the surroundings in Wykeham due to its attraction to environments with sand or gravel bottoms. 

The village of Wykeham sits southwest of Scarborough and is home to a fantastic forest, plus one of the largest freshwater lakes in Yorkshire at North Yorkshire Water Park, where our sculpture is located.

Take the leisurely 2.5-kilometre circular walk around the lakes to soak up the stunning scenery and arrive at the sculpture that stands over 2 metres in height with a helpful information board to learn more about these amazing insects.

The Sculpture

North Yorkshire Water Park in Wykeham is the home to many of the Damselfly species, which inspired Emma to create the Wykeham Damselfly to represent the area and its surroundings.

The damselfly is a remarkable species due to its delicate features and subtle colours, meaning Emma needed to select the materials carefully to ensure the sculpture portrayed this correctly. The body, head and tail have been designed using copper wire as, over time; the patina turns a lovely verdigris green representing the true colours of the Beautiful Demoiselle. To portray the wings correctly, they were hand-formed using stainless steel round bar before being methodically woven in phosphorous bronze wire, which will turn a soft brown over time.

Damselfly on the Coast

The damselfly is a small insect often found near freshwater streams and rivers on the coast. They are similar in appearance to the larger dragonfly but are smaller and more delicate.

The damselfly is an integral part of the coastal ecosystem, playing a key role in pollination and pest control. They are also a popular sight for visitors to the coast, with their bright colours and graceful flight patterns. Males can be identified by their metallic blue colour, while females are green. The earliest damselflies are on the wing from early May to August, but you might still see them flying on a warm October day.

The Wykeham damselfly sculpture is a beautiful tribute to this important insect. It perfectly captures the delicacy and intricate details of the demoiselle damselfly, creating a stunning visual display for all to see.

The Coastal Sculpture Collection

Route YC's Coastal Sculpture Collection features unique sculptures in various locations across the Yorkshire Coast for people to visit and enjoy. Each sculpture is designed to represent the area it's located within, offering a chance to learn about the natural species found in the surrounding environments.

In addition, the Collection creates marker points throughout Route YC for people to admire and supports its objectives of raising awareness of protecting wild and marine life throughout the Yorkshire Coast whilst giving that perfect selfie opportunity to capture those memories of your time on Yorkshire's ultimate road trip, Route YC.

Interested in the other pieces in the collection? See our Coastal Sculpture 7 day itinerary here.