Continuing on with my pond and insect themed blogs, I went down to the tree nursery again this week and spotted another visitor to the pond there.

This time he animal that caught my attention was a large red damselfly sitting on the surface of the pond with its abdomen stuck beneath the water. It did not appear to be moving and with half its body submerged I was afraid it was in trouble! However there was no need to worry as the damselfly was actually perfectly healthy. This individual was in fact a female in the process of laying her eggs along a frond of pond weed.

This species of damselfly can be identified by its black legs and the distinctive yellow bands around the segments of its abdomen. Damselflies look similar to dragonflies, but are smaller with a slimmer abdomen, have separated eyes and hold their wings along the length of their body when at rest, whereas dragonflies keep their wings pointing away from their body.

damselflies and dragonflies actually spend the majority of their lives underwater in their larval or nymph state. Upon emerging they only spend a few weeks as an adult; hunting, mating and laying eggs before they die.

Bye for now!

Alex Kekewich – Falls of Clyde Seasonal Ranger