Not strictly gardening, but garden related.
Our pond has so far produced 16 newly hatched emperor dragonflies in
the last 2 days and there are still more to come. Last year we just
had a couple as it was the pond's first full year.
Might sound daft but it's so exciting, can't wait to see how many
there are altogether.
Just wanted to tell someone
Pickle

in article , Pickle at
wrote on 28/5/03 12:01 am:

Not strictly gardening, but garden related.
Our pond has so far produced 16 newly hatched emperor dragonflies in
the last 2 days and there are still more to come. Last year we just
had a couple as it was the pond's first full year.
Might sound daft but it's so exciting, can't wait to see how many
there are altogether.
Just wanted to tell someone
Pickle

You're right. It IS exciting! I'm always thrilled when I see dragonflies.
It's a bit like seeing a kingfisher - they're so exotic that it's almost a
surprise that they exist in our cold and wet island!
What have you got in your pond that attracts them in such abundance?

We are awaiting the hatching of 8 duck eggs and Mrs Duck is beginning to
look a tax fed up, I must say. The level of anticipation here is almost
unbearable - it's like living in a labour ward!
--

Sacha
(remove the 'x' to email me)

What have you got in your pond that attracts them in such abundance?

There's nothing special about the pond, we just dug it, put in some weed,
water lily, irises, marsh marigold etc and left it to do its thing.
We have had 4 species of dragonfly and 4 damselfly visit and lay eggs.
One thing I noticed last night was that the frogs seemed to know the
dragonflies were emerging, 12 of them were all sitting around the marsh
marigold stem the dragonflies were climbing up, when they had shed their
husk but were still soft the frogs were jumping up trying to get at them! By
5am when I got up to have a look they had all flown away (apart from the one
the cat sicked up)
You're right, dragonflies do look exotic, almost too beautiful to be real
I love to see them.

You lucky thing!
I am thinking of having a wild life pond and I too would be over the
moon about it. These are beautiful insects.

On 28 May 2003 05:04:01 -0700, Helen wrote:

You lucky thing!
I am thinking of having a wild life pond and I too would be over the
moon about it. These are beautiful insects.

Right, beautiful creatures, and simply fascinating. We had one fly into our
kitchen last year. There's no open water for miles, they must have a heck
of a range.
Tim.

"Pickle" wrote in message
m...
Not strictly gardening, but garden related.
Our pond has so far produced 16 newly hatched emperor dragonflies in
the last 2 days and there are still more to come. Last year we just
had a couple as it was the pond's first full year.
Might sound daft but it's so exciting, can't wait to see how many
there are altogether.
Just wanted to tell someone
Pickle

You lucky person, I would love some to take up residence in my ponds, thus
far no luck. Got something that looks like a potential larvae, but since
they can spend up to 4 years milling around at the bottom of the pond I am
not holding my breath. They are some of our more gorgeous creatures I think.
Duncan

"Pickle" wrote in message
m...
Not strictly gardening, but garden related.
Our pond has so far produced 16 newly hatched emperor dragonflies in
the last 2 days and there are still more to come. Last year we just
had a couple as it was the pond's first full year.
Might sound daft but it's so exciting, can't wait to see how many
there are altogether.
Just wanted to tell someone
Pickle

Every year I have them fly into my conservatory, they seem to have a
look around then fly straight back out of the door which is more than
butterflies or most birds can do, although in the winter I saw a wren in
the conservatory which went the rounds of the bottoms of my
overwintering, not particularly hardy, shrubs, it too went straight out
of the door.

Bel

28 now and still going strong!

In message , Pickle
writes
28 now and still going strong!

heh - soon you'll be 29 then...

(please, quote at least a little of what came before to give your
contributions some context)


We just saw a first dragonfly near our pond - and it seemed to land
briefly, curve its rear and deposit something yellow onto a flower stalk
- is it the time for dragonflys to be laying eggs? and is this a method
they use???

--
dave @ stejonda

?why do Americans chatter during live theatre?

heh - soon you'll be 29 then...

If only ....

(please, quote at least a little of what came before to give your
contributions some context)

Sorry , I'm a newbie to usenet posting, please see thread starter re
emperor dragonflies hatching from my pond


We just saw a first dragonfly near our pond - and it seemed to land
briefly, curve its rear and deposit something yellow onto a flower stalk
- is it the time for dragonflys to be laying eggs? and is this a method
they use???

Yes, and yes.
Some lay directly onto stems, others cut a hole with their blade-like
ovipositors and lay the egg inside plant matter. They usually hatch in about
3 weeks.
Do you know what kind yours were, what did it look like?

Lisa

The message
from "Pickle" contains these words:



heh - soon you'll be 29 then...

If only ....

(please, quote at least a little of what came before to give your
contributions some context)

Sorry , I'm a newbie to usenet posting, please see thread starter re
emperor dragonflies hatching from my pond

The point is, other new arrivals might be too late for the thread-start.

We have a weekly post advising new posters how to get the best out of
the group, which you would find useful.. it's called abc for newcomers
to urg. Look up the charter as it suggests and you'll see what's OT here
and what's not.

Janet

On Thu, 29 May 2003 21:50:18 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:


The point is, other new arrivals might be too late for the thread-start.

The point is, Bornaclot, no one asked for your opinion so FOAD

The message
from "Pickle" contains these words:



heh - soon you'll be 29 then...

If only ....

(please, quote at least a little of what came before to give your
contributions some context)

Sorry , I'm a newbie to usenet posting, please see thread starter re
emperor dragonflies hatching from my pond


We just saw a first dragonfly near our pond - and it seemed to land
briefly, curve its rear and deposit something yellow onto a flower stalk
- is it the time for dragonflys to be laying eggs? and is this a method
they use???

Yes, and yes.
Some lay directly onto stems, others cut a hole with their blade-like
ovipositors and lay the egg inside plant matter. They usually hatch in about
3 weeks.
Do you know what kind yours were, what did it look like?

Lisa

We had a short stocky dragonfly today with a pale blue tail. I've just
looked it up and it's Libellula depressa, which is a darter. I then saw
what I think must have been the case it emerged from half way up the
leaf of a water iris. I should have been more observant and spotted the
case before, and then I could have been aware of it hatching!

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.

Janet G

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.

Mine skim over the water, occasionally touching the surface and dropping a
few eggs. Which elicits "interesting" responses from below, since the pond
is infested with large-mouth bass. I guess the balance is that they get to
produce enough eggs that make it to adulthood before they become lunch.

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!


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at www.albany.net/~gwoods
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1200' elevation. NY WO G

We had a short stocky dragonfly today with a pale blue tail. I've just
looked it up and it's Libellula depressa, which is a darter. I then saw
what I think must have been the case it emerged from half way up the
leaf of a water iris. I should have been more observant and spotted the
case before, and then I could have been aware of it hatching!

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.

They do spend their nymph stage in the water, the libellula you mentioned
(broad-bodied chaser) lives in the mud at the bottom of the pond for a
couple of years. they then emerge, spend a couple of weeks away from the
pond maturing. Then they come back to mate, lay their eggs, and the whole
cycle begins again.

The big ones I have in my pond (33 emerged now by the way) are Anax
Imperator (Emperor dragonfly) - the nymphs usually take 2 years to mature
and are the size of a newt - pretty fearsome - with voracious appetites,
they will attack anything in the pond that moves!