Dragonflies

Dragonflies have to be my favourite insects. Sol, Leo and Noah are fascinated by them too. We spent long periods of time recently at watersides enjoying both dragonflies and damselflies.

They are beautiful, powerful, majestic, mysterious and most certainly magical.

Dragonflies were among the first flying insects to exist of Earth. They belong to two elements - air and water.

Water is vital for them as they spend a long larval stage in an aquatic environment. Some species spend as long as five years as nymphs. When they reach their final moult, the dragonfly leaves the water, and waits for the sun to rise to dry its wings then off it goes, a magnificent flying creature!

In the air, they are skilful, powerful flyers darting swiftly in a haze of bright light, shimmering above the water, twisting, turning, changing direction, even going backwards.

They are vorocious hunters, amongst the most powerful predators of the insects world.

During mating, dragonflies incredibly form a heart shape.

Damelsflies and dragonflies look similar and share many characteristics. Damselflies are smaller and appear more delicate. You can tell them apart by their wings. Dragonfly wings remain horizontal when resting, while damselfly wings remain vertical over its body.

There are many lores and legends surrounding dragonflies, in cultures across the world.

In Swedish legend, the Devil gave dragonflies the task of weighing the souls of humans.

In English legend, they apparently sew the eyelids together of unsuspecting people napping close to water. Hence, they became known as the 'Devil's darning needles'.

They are also more positively associated with symbols of light and hope.

Some say they are really fairies....

Here's our rainbow dragonfly mobile. The dragonfly bodies are made of clay, we used maple tree keys as wings and we painted the bodies different colours with watercolour paint when the clay hardened.

The pictures aren't good. The dragonflies look so beautiful fluttering in the breeze. We have multicoloured, red, orange, blue, purple, yellow and green dragonflies.

So, next time you see one of these magnificent, magical creatures, make a secret wish as it might just be a fairy.

Ladybirds

We stumbled across a wonderful discovery recently. Whilst out on one of our walks around the farm, Sol discovered two fascinating insects he had not come across before. Later, we worked out what they were - ladybird pupa and ladybird larva - we hadn't at first even realised they could be related! There were adult ladybirds in the same area too. The lifecycle of the ladybird. Sol was so intrigued and excited! I just so love this type of natural learning - this is what it's all about and it is exhilerating!

So, this is the story:

Ladybirds undergo a complete metamorphosis. The life stages are: egg --> larva --> pupa --> adult.

Look how fantastic the larvae are. They don't look like ladybirds, do they? These are the sort Sol's really intrigued with.

The larvae that hatches from the egg is small and long and has 6 legs. They wander among the leaves in search of food, mainly aphids, just like the adults. As it rapidly grows, the larvae sheds its skin several times. After reaching full size, the larvae attaches itself to a plant leaf by its "tail" and remain suspended there. The larval skin then splits down the back, exposing the pupa.

The pupa is about the size of the adult but is all wrapped up, protecting the ladybird while it undergoes metamorphosis into its adult stage. This last stage takes a few days.

Adult ladybird. There are many different species of ladybirds found on different continents. They are generally considered useful insects as many species feed on aphids or scale insects, which are pests in gardens, agricultural fields, orchards and similar places.

During the Middle Ages, ladybirds answered farmers' prayers by savings their crops from pests. This led to their association with the Virgin Mary, 'The Beetles of Our Lady'. The red wings were said to represent the Virgin's cloak and the black spots were symbolic of both her joys and her sorrows. Nearly all cultures believe that a Ladybird is lucky. Killing one is said to bring sadness and misfortune.