Wheel of life #2

Ronlit’s recent post Wheel of life on this blog described the mating habits of dragonflies. Our garden pond has been a magnet for a number of these attractive creatures, particularly Blue Skimmers (Orthetrum caledonicum) which are surprisingly approachable and obligingly performed the ‘wheel of life’ for the camera – see photo at left.
 
 
Another smaller dragonfly, the Black-faced Percher (Diplacodes melanopsis), was flying around at the same time, and was occasionally buzzed in mid-air by the male skimmer when it got too close.

We have much to learn about these insects and were grateful for Ron’s help with identification. We also referred back to his 2013 post When beliefs are shattered, which was a delightful story about the differences between dragonflies and damselflies, and which elicited a wonderfully detailed comment from the late Russell Best, co-founder of the NatureShare website.