Dragonflies Egg Laying At Wheatland Farm's Devon Eco Lodges

A few days ago we posted about Broad Bodied Chasers emerging at the wildlife pond below Balebarn Eco Lodge. Now the place is humming with dragonflies.

We’ve been watching Four Spot Chasers (like this one, photographed in May 2019, having just emerged from the pond). There are also good numbers of Emperor Dragonflies. These are the big blue ones from the group called hawkers. They are busy patrolling (hawking) along the reeds. Or at least the males are (the green females don’t spend so much time at the pond). Males frequently get into tussles, and the one in the picture with this post has lost part of one wing. It doesn’t seem to have stopped him though.

Meanwhile, some of females that have already mated are laying eggs. Today’s random act of wildness was to indulge Maggie’s obsession and just go dragonfly watching. Here is a short clip of female Emperor Dragonflies inserting eggs into the pond weed.

At the end, there’s a clip of a female Four Spot Chaser egg laying. She takes less care, just dipping her abdomen into the water and hoping for the best.

Not in the clip, but at the pond most sunny days now, the damselflies are egg laying in crowds, still ‘in tandem’ . They are mostly azure damselflies, but some common blue damselflies are mixed in. They are hard to tell apart without a good close up though.

Later in the summer we will get southern hawkers patrolling the pond and also the fields around all Wheatland Farm’s lodges. They often come up really close. Something to look forward to!