If you were standing near what is now Clydeside 300 million years ago, there’s a good chance we would have ducked as a brightly coloured dragonfly about the size of a buzzard burred over your head. These days, the biggest your going to see is about 10 centimeters.
The first of my pictures shows a Golden-Ringed Dragonfly. An aerial hunter, it catches and often eats other flying insects in mid-air. It was only when I got home and looked at the shot in detail that I noticed the wasp in the clutches of this big female.
One of the fastest flying insects in the world, they can reach speeds of 30 miles an hour and can be found near ponds and rivers. This one was having its brunch near a small burn above Alexandria. Of course, the reason they are found near water is because they spend most of their lives under water as nymph feeding on worms, insects and even tadpoles.
In the case of the Golden-Ringed Dragonfly, they will live underwater for up to five years, molting up to 14 times before pulling themselves up a reed and emerging as a beautiful adult. Once airborne, the cram a lot in. They hunt, mate and lay their eggs in a matter of a few weeks before dying.
The Damselfly appeared on the scene about 260 million years ago, still a good 255 million years before us. Unlike the Dragonfly, who keeps its four wings outstretched while resting, the Damselfly folds its wings behind its back. Like many of the dragonflies, they are brightly coloured but a little smaller and more delicate.
My second shot shows one of more common species in this area the Azur Damselfly. You’ll often see these beauties flying about, chasing each other until they link up in a mating wheel. Quite spectacular.
It’s amazing to think that these damsels and dragons are probably the oldest surviving species to have inhabited this area, preceding and then outliving the dinosaurs, wooly mammoths and bears that once trod our portion of the planet.
They belong to an ancient order of insects called the Odonata which means ‘toothed one’ in Greek. It probably refers to their mandibles having obvious jagged edges.
With the ability to hover and fly backwards they are amazing mid-air hunters.
They sometimes swarm and even migrate flying up to a hundred miles in one day. A species called a Globe Spinner holds the record for the insect with the longest known migration, covering 11,000 miles.
Out of the 5500 species of dragonfly found globally, 29 species of have been recorded in Scotland. Most of my dragonfly sightings have been between May and August.
For much more on these amazing creatures hit the link. https://british-dragonflies.org.uk/odonata/life-cycle-and-biology/