Notes on nature : damselflies

A walk on the wild side

Katie Fuller — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:57:00 GMT

Like so many other people, my interest in birds stems from watching them in my village garden when I was a kid.

I spent hours and hours glued to the window, seeing what was coming and going. I hung feeders on the washing line, much to my mum's annoyance. Blue tits, blackbirds, robins, house sparrows... and I remember the excitement I felt when I saw something out of the ordinary - a flock of long-tailed tits, a goldfinch or a fieldfare, and on one occasion, a tree sparrow! My heart skipped several beats.

Birds were my first love, but in more recent years, I've strayed and become interested in other creatures, too. That's why I went for a walk along the River Great Ouse, not far from The Lodge.

At first glance, this particular stretch of river doesn't look anything special. The Great North Road is close by, with lorries bustling past, so it's not peaceful. This path isn't well-worn; the nettles and cow parsley try to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. But those plants are all-important here. This is the land of the scarce chaser, a rare and beautiful dragonfly.

Scarce chasers are - as their name fails to suggest - not as rare as they used to be. It's only a few years since they sneaked into Bedfordshire along the Great Ouse, and this is one of the best sites to see them. I started with grand plans to walk a few miles along the bank. On a humid spring morning, we saw a total of 45 in less than half a mile! No need to go any further...

After up to two years spent as a fierce, ugly larva, on the riverbed, they emerge in mid-May as bright orange beauties. For me, they're at their most beautiful then; later, the males turn powder-blue and the females darken. The chasers perch on the nettles and stems, basking and hunting. They fly into the air and snatch small insects, returning to their perches to munch their meals (you can hear them!).

As if the glorious dragonflies weren't enough, this riverbank holds more attractions. Banded demoiselles. Thousands of 'em. They flit and flutter among the nettles, chasing, resting, feeding and displaying. I remember seeing these damselflies when I was a child; I watched them skip over the surface of the Nene and wondered what kind of butterfly they were. Now I know...

Though I'm getting better at some insects, I know next to nothing about plants. Or fish. The ones we saw in the river near the lock were whoppers! They must have been 18 inches long, and sported appendages on their chins - they were barbel. Ten-pounders. Or so I was told. Big, bottom-feeding fish. So there's something else for me to learn about...

I think that's what I like about nature: there is always something new to learn or see.

What do you think?

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Taking the plunge

Katie Fuller — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:16:00 GMT

I'll admit it - I've become a terrible bore. In the three weeks since the big hole in my garden was filled with water, I've been unable to stop talking about it. I'm besotted by my new pond and its contents.

Creating it wasn't easy. It took two days of hard labour by me and my mother in the hot sun. Our clay soil is heavy stuff and there was a lot of it after we'd dug the hole, which measures 3.5 m x 2.5 m x 0.75 m deep (about 11' 6" by 8' 3" by 2' 6").

By lunchtime on the second day, we'd lined the hole with underlay, then pond liner and were just about ready to fill it with water. Two hours later, it was full and I'd finished trimming the edges, but I was so exhausted I had to have a lie down on the grass!

The payback for all the hard work started less than 24 hours later. I was relaxing by the 'pool' when I suddenly noticed movement on the water's surface. A pondskater was gliding about on the surface looking for bugs which had fallen in and got stuck in the surface tension. My pond had pondlife!

That was just the beginning, too. Over the next two weeks, the pioneering pondskater was joined by more pondskaters, water beetles, water lice, ramshorn snails (which arrived with plants donated by kind colleagues) and hundreds of mosquito larvae. I'm not wild about mosquitoes, but I know our local bats will be. Plus, they don't call dragonflies and damselflies 'mosquito hawks' for nothing.

Day 16 was a warm, sunny day and I sat next to the pond to watch what was going on. Within a few minutes, I was duly rewarded as a beautiful, forget-me-not-blue broad-bodied chaser dragonfly did battle with a four-spotted chaser. They whizzed low over the pond with the occasional buzz as they clashed wings, trying to see each other off. I'm not sure which was the winner...

Over the weekend, I've enjoyed watching the latest visitors - delicate azure damselflies and bold common darter dragonflies laying their eggs into the water. Goldfinches have been bathing in the shallow end. I had to fish out a few beetles which weren't aquatic.

The broad-bodied chaser's been back, too - will it be his offspring climbing out of the pond sometime over the next three years? I'll have to wait and see...

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Dragons in your garden?

Administrator — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:00:00 GMT

Like three tiny fighter planes, they cruised menacingly past, cagily eyeing each other from afar. Suddenly, they came together in a blur of wings and engaged in a furious catfight, ending with one tumbling unceremoniously into the water.

This is no tale of Battle of Britain gallantry in the skies above Europe. This was a battle for territorial supremacy at a pond near me. At war were a four-spotted chaser, a broad-bodied chaser and a hairy hawker.

Those brilliantly-named and colourful creatures are among several species of dragonflies and damselflies showcasing their flying skills all over the UK. It is now peak ‘flying time’ for them, so why not get out on a nice sunny day and enjoy them!

If you’re wondering what the difference is between a ‘dragon and a ‘damsel’, damselflies are smaller, thinner bodied and hold their wings over their backs when they're perched. The bigger, more active, thicker-bodied dragonflies hold their wings out to the sides when they are at rest.

You can see them on most rivers, pools, ponds and lakes, but did you know that you can also enjoy these fantastic insects in your garden? A pond is a real draw for these water-loving insects and it’s easy to make one in your garden!

Don’t worry if you haven’t got one - it’s not essential to have water in your garden attract them. Freshly emerged dragonflies and damselflies spend time away from water to let their new, flimsy wings develop in peace. They head for vegetation - a good reason to have patches of wildflowers and bushes in your garden - to mature and ‘harden off’. After a few days, they head back to water to find a mate and reproduce.

Dragonflies like migrant hawkers come to the skies above gardens to feast on smaller insects and common darters perch on your washing line and on garden canes. You might even get a visit from the mighty emperor! Large red, common blue and azure damselflies could also be coming to your garden this summer.

Have you seen any dragonflies and damselflies this year, or attracted them to your garden? Why not write a comment (you will need to register first - this is free - then log in). You can also be updated when something new is posted to this blog.