Gary Woods wrote in message . ..
Janet Galpin and Oliver Patterson wrote:

I thought that they spend their nymph stage in the water and then crawl
out when it's time for the adult to emerge, so I'm not sure where the
egg-laying fits in.

After they emerge they spend a couple of weeks away from the water to
reach sexual maturity, they then come back to the water to mate and
lay their eggs.

There may well be others that lay eggs on plant stems. I know some
dragonfly larvae take a couple of seasons to mature, and can catch and eat
small minnows! They do put on a good air show!

The large ones in my pond (33 out now BTW) have spent 2 years in there
and are the size of a newt! they have voracious appetites and will
take on anything they find. I haven't got any fish in there but I have
seen them tackle other species of dragonfly nymphs, tadpoles, full
grown snails etc.
That pond's a dangerous place to live.