Dragonfly
In the heat of the mid-afternoon, I noticed a dragonfly was circling the garden so I went outside and watched it for some time. It has been a fascination for me these few days; I love watching them dart and hover. This particular dragonfly was hovering more than usual, but it wasn't until that I came back from stumbling through the forest (otherwise known as "a walk"), getting nicely scratched by thorny and poisonous plants, that I found out why.
The shadows had stretched longer in the late afternoon, but it was still hot and very sunny. I was in the kitchen getting a drink of water when I saw that the dragonfly was still in the garden; it was hesitating, hovering, periodically landing on the unweeping willow, the garden table and the lounge chairs, curling its "tail" from time to time. Eventually, it settled on a piece of wood that was part of a former bonfire. After I slowly inched close enough to see, I realised that it was actually laying eggs into a hole in the wood.
Why it chose to do so in the garden is a bit of a mystery; as far as I know, dragonflies lay their eggs near water. Egg-laying seemed an exhausting and long process — I think the dragonfly remained on the wood for more than an hour. I'd watched her for about thirty minutes, and went inside to help make dinner. By the time dinner was ready, she was gone.
Now, I know next to nothing about dragonflies, so I found the British Dragonfly Society FAQ an interesting read. It seemed that I might have managed to photograph a dragonfly common to a European family. Aren't I a lucky gal?
Posted by sniffles at August 08, 2003 11:12 PM