I touched on damselflies and dragonflies in my last post so thought I’d look into them a bit more today.

Five ways to tell them apart:

Bodies: damselfly’s long, thin and fragile looking; dragonfly’s are chunkier

Wings: both have two pairs of lace-like wings – damselfly’s are all the same size; dragonfly’s – the back pair of are usually shorter and wider than the front pair. Both are able to take off and land vertically, hover and fly backwards

Eyes: damselfly’s two distinctly separate eyes on the sides of the head; dragonfly’s – two massive eyes the join at the top of the head

Resting wings: damselfy’s tucked in close to the body; dragonfly’s held away from the body

Flying: damselflies are weak fliers and rest frequently; dragonflies are strong, fast fliers that can fly long distances

Damsels and dragons need water as part of their lifecycle – they lay eggs on the stems and leaves of aquatic plants or directly into the water or mud. Eventually the larvae will hatch and there is a wide range of how long the larval stage lasts – from a few months to five years. Once ready to move on to adulthood, the larvae sit in the shallows for a few days breathing air then climb up a plant where the adult breaks out of the larval shell.

Damsels are likely to hang around the pond, whereas dragons will roam further afield – both return to the water to mate and lay eggs. Males can get territorial. They both feed on smaller insects but will also eat other damsels/dragons. They are themselves eaten by birds, spiders, frogs and newts.

Pretty and mesmerising to watch. Worth putting even a small pond into the garden just to watch them.

📷 Stimmungsbilder1 via Adobe Stock #245527180