I am fascinated by the lifecycles and different stages of the dragonfly. So it was brilliant last week to have a go a pond dipping and this marvellous larvae was the result. It is a darter but I cannot tell if it is a ruddy or common darter. Luckily the books tell me it is almost impossible to tell the difference without a good microscope and a key. But what can I tell about this?

It is a darter of the Sympetrum family. So if it is a ruddy darter mating will have taken place on the wing with the coupled pair performing a dipping flight over the water. The female jettisons her fertilised eggs at the water surface by alternating movements of the abdomen. The male will hover nearby during this period and protect the female by driving off any approaching males.If it were a common darter the story is not so different with the eggs are not laid, but broadcast from the air: the male holds the female in tandem and swings her down and forward over water at a height of around 40cm. At the furthest point of the arc the female releases some of her eggs to fall on the water.

So thats how life started for this little creature and it will probably have overwintered as an egg and then the larvae developed very fast in spring and early summer - so its possibly a year old. But it is not ready to emerge yet. The larva are fearsome hunters. If it is a ruddy darter it will often be found alongside the emerald damselfly which is true of the site where I found it, but I know that both ruddy and common darter live there so that takes me no further.

Well in the end I probably cannot ascertain which of the two it is but that does not matter. What a fantastic lifecycle - it will eventually emerge as a truely beautiful dragonfly and then enjoy a few weeks on the wing when its objective in life will be to start the cycle all again. Lets hope that is the case and looking forward to seeing these little jewels on the wing in the sunshine for the next few weeks.

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