Learn How to Attract the Dragonfly and Damselfly
Become a better gardener! Discover our new Almanac Garden Planner features for 2024. It’s easy, fun, and free to try!
ADVERTISEMENT
We have a four acre pond in front of our house. Its main use is irrigation water for 2 of our many pivots on our farm. We have water almost constantly flowing in on the upper end and flowing out on the lower end. Our pond is surrounded by various trees, native plants, and is a fantastic ecosystem. We literally have 1000s, if not possibly tens of thousands of dragonflies and damselflies. No mosquitoes! We also have hundreds of different birds, some of which live here year round and others are migratory. I have a wildflower patch which is about 2 acres, so we are loaded with pollinators as well.
My sisters, brother & I grew up near Oneida Lake in Upstate New York, they had something called an eel fly that had massive hatchings. Our Grandmother terrified us that they would sew our mouths shut. One summer we went to the movies & my Dad put the top down on his convertible, there had been a particularly large hatching that year, the road was actually slippery from them & my sisters & I cried so that Dad had to stop the car & put the top up. He was quite annoyed as I recall. Nobody had their lips sewer shut and we all love watching them now. So fascinating. Enjoyed the article.
Fanastic photos and extremely interesting and formative article. There are currently 57 species of Odonta in the UK: 36 Dragon Flies and 21 species of Damesl Flies . The River Blackwater in Langford, Maldon Essex is teeming with both. I wish I had a pound for everytime a dragon fly and particularly Damel Flies, land on the tip of my float whilst fishing.
The photographic illustrations for this article are truly spectacular.
I love watching the flame skimmer dragonflies hover over our neighborhood park's lawn. Their wings sparkle in the sun and at first glance it looks as if glitter is falling from the sky.
When my dad was a little boy in Western New York, some older boys taught him that dragonflies were actually called 'sewing machines' because they could sew your lips together. My dad always had a healthy respect for them after that.
Funny, Tom! My brother, Tom and I grew up and vacationed in New England. We were told as kids, that if we swore and the dragon flies heard us, they would sew our mouths shut. In fact our cousins in Maine called these wonderful creatures "darning needles"! I now live on a lake and love to see all the different sizes, shapes and colors they wear!
I have read in the past that dragonflies will eat wasps.
Is there any truth to this? We get alot of dragonflies in our neighborhood. Sometimes the sky above you will be swarming with hundreds ar a time. But we also get alot of wasps.
not usually; dragonflies will eat wasps occassionally~
I love Dragonflies, they have a playful spirit and there is something mystical about these creatures. I love how they have these beautiful big microscopic glass-like eyes resembling the alien species and their wings and bodies are so delicate. I come from Goa, in India and there were plenty of dragonflies and butterflies throughout the year around the flowers and sometimes in our home too during my younger days.