Many thanks Robot, especially for your superb photos. As you suggested, I can see now that they are actually dragonfly larvae so I shall leave them in peace and await developments. It is great to see so many responses offering good advice, I know where to come next time I have a problem. Many thanks to all who replied
No problem. I hope you can catch the day when the dragonfly emerges. It takes some time so there'll be time to grab the camera. When our children were young they would often be late for school as they would spot a larvae emerging early in the morning and we would all sit around the pond and watch it - ignoring the school bus. Happy days.
What a very enjoyable forum. Best pictures of dragonfly and diving beetle larvae that I have seen, We have a new pond (approx 6 weeks) and we had a lot of diving beetle larvae up until two days ago. They now seem to have all gone though I found a dead one floating on the surface this morning, What do you reckon may have happened to them?
What a very enjoyable forum. Best pictures of dragonfly and diving beetle larvae that I have seen, We have a new pond (approx 6 weeks) and we had a lot of diving beetle larvae up until two days ago. They now seem to have all gone though I found a dead one floating on the surface this morning, What do you reckon may have happened to them?
Richard
They've probably left the pond to pupate underground
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks Dovefromabove. A couple of days after I asked the question, I found a couple of larvae floating dead on the pond surface. Then we saw a number of dead larvae at the bottom of the pond. Since then we have not seen any live larvae or adult beetles. Strange!
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Many thanks Robot, especially for your superb photos. As you suggested, I can see now that they are actually dragonfly larvae so I shall leave them in peace and await developments. It is great to see so many responses offering good advice, I know where to come next time I have a problem. Many thanks to all who replied
No problem. I hope you can catch the day when the dragonfly emerges. It takes some time so there'll be time to grab the camera. When our children were young they would often be late for school as they would spot a larvae emerging early in the morning and we would all sit around the pond and watch it - ignoring the school bus. Happy days.
What a very enjoyable forum. Best pictures of dragonfly and diving beetle larvae that I have seen, We have a new pond (approx 6 weeks) and we had a lot of diving beetle larvae up until two days ago. They now seem to have all gone though I found a dead one floating on the surface this morning, What do you reckon may have happened to them?
Richard
Are water boatmen predatory?
Water boatmen are primarily herbivores. They also sing with their penis - apparently http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2010280/Water-boatman-Tiny-insect-sings-penis-loudest-creature-Earth.html
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
They've probably left the pond to pupate underground
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks Dovefromabove. A couple of days after I asked the question, I found a couple of larvae floating dead on the pond surface. Then we saw a number of dead larvae at the bottom of the pond. Since then we have not seen any live larvae or adult beetles. Strange!