Well with all the nice weather there’s been plenty of wildlife flying around and not just the birds. We’ve had all sorts of damselflies, butterflies and dragonflies darting about and it’s been a great sight to see.
Dragonflies are among the fastest flying insects in the world with larger ones reaching speeds of up to 30mph. There are many different species and here at Frampton Marsh we have emperor, broad-bodied chaser and black-tailed skimmer to name a few. It can be quite difficult to tell apart a damselfly and a dragonfly but when at rest damselflies tend to hold their wings together where as dragonflies hold them out.
See how the wings of the banded demoiselle damselfly above are together compared with the outspread wings of the black-tailed skimmer dragonfly below (both images by Neil Smith).
Although you may generally think of a dragonfly as an agile flying insect, they spend most of their life in the water as larvae. When they’re ready to become adults they climb up a reed and the exposure to air causes them to begin breathing. Some live up to 4-5 years as larvae before they become adults.
They are important predators, eating mosquitoes and other small insects like flies, ants and wasps. In turn they make great meals for animals such as birds, lizards and frogs. In fact diving for dragonflies is a favourite pastime of the hobby.
Illustration by Richard Allen (rspb-images.com)
Diving for dragonflies, a hobby of the hobby!
I wonder what that was that just flew past??