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Dragonfly emerging

micearguersmicearguers Posts: 646
in Wildlife gardening
Today I was astonished to see a dragonfly on a waterlily pad, freshly out of its nymph husk. It was something of a miracle out of our tiny pond (2.5 square meters).







At some point it had disappeared; unfortunately I had missed the moment.



However, it reappeared later:

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Posts

  • FlyDragonFlyDragon Posts: 834
    Wow!  What a fantastic thing to see up close!  The pictures are amazing, thanks for sharing. 
  • LisaDWLisaDW Posts: 21
    Amazing! Lovely pictures 😃
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Great photos  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • micearguersmicearguers Posts: 646
    Thanks everyone. It was a joy really to witness, and I was nearly jumping with excitement. Not really sure what species it is; looking at https://british-dragonflies.org.uk/odonata/dragonflies-2/ perhaps a Golden-ringed Dragonfly? It does seem to be a very sizable specimen.
  • micearguersmicearguers Posts: 646
    Patterning and habitat suggests Southern Hawker is a better match, on second thought. Hopefully someone can identify it?
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Amazing. Thanks for sharing. I would love to put in a bigger pond, I just don't know where it would go. :|
  • micearguersmicearguers Posts: 646
    Wow @pansyface you captured it shedding the nymph skin. That is spectacular (and a very good picture too). I assume it is still near water?
  • micearguersmicearguers Posts: 646
    @pansyface that's an interesting question. Here http://marcheath.blogspot.com/2016/05/some-dragonfly-exuviae-science.html the writer describes how the nymph seems to change its breathing in the last days, and as I understand it the threads are part of the breathing system. It's not clear to me if the implication is that the threads will also correspond to opened tunnels in the dragonfly body supporting oxygen exchange.

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Fantastic photos @micearguers. A real treat to be there when it happens  :)
    Great photo too @pansyface. Wonderful to be there at the perfect time. I've never been that lucky.

    We see plenty of the golden ringed ones up here, on the lower slopes of hills at this time of year. Sometimes it's hard to avoid them when clouds of them suddenly lift off  :)




    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    pansyface said:
     
    Why oh why must human beings feel the need to kill something in order to understand something?
    Because science, learning, understanding.

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