DRAGONFLIES

Common Blue Damselfly   (Enallagma cyathigerum).
Glapthorn Cow Pasture, Northants. 4th July 2011

Common Darter   (Sympetrum striolatum).
.Bernwood Meadows, Oxfordshire. 31st July 2011

Common Hawker   (Aeshna juncea).
Disley, Cheshire. July 2009

Black-tailed Skimmer   (Orthetrum cancellatum),  female.
Pollensa, Mallorca. 26th May 2009

Either Scarlet Darter (Crocothemis erythraea) or Scarlet (Marsh) Skimmer (Crocothemis servilia),  male.
Bishop's Pool, Cyprus. April 2010

BUMBLE BEE

Bombus terrestris
My garden. 31st July 2010

HOVER FLY

Volucella pellucens
My garden. 31st July 2010

EUROPEAN MANTIS

Mantis religiosa
St. Marcel du Périgord (near Bergerac), Dordogne, France.   11th September 2011

CADDIS FLY (and a poem)

Halesus sp.
Caught in my moth trap. 11th October 2010

POND LIFE

A caterpillar has a future
A butterfly just has a past.
Tadpoles have potential,
Frogs are doomed
To a perpetual search
For a chance to spawn;
Until they meet Time’s Winged Volvo
Or the local heron.

Even so, frogs have their watery wonderland,
Full of interesting wigglies.
Butterflies share the air
With hummingbirds, puffins and lacewings.
Not bad neighbours,
Though you can’t get an ASBO
Against the dragonflies next door.

One of the more interesting wigglies
Is the caddis fly grub.
It makes its own trouser
(Just one leg),
Into which it can completely retract
When it lacks confidence,
Or pop out its head to feed or converse.

It makes the trouser
By incorporation of pond-bed detritus
Into a sheath, bonded by secretions.
So, the pattern of the trouser
Reflects the immediate environment.

A Frenchman named Hubert Duprat
Places caddis grubs in a tank,
At the bottom of which
He puts granules of gold
And small jewels.
The grubs, unaware that they are creating art,
Make gold jeweled trousers,
Whereupon Monsieur Duprat
Pickles the grubs and displays them.

You can never trust a frog.

Our immediate environment
Is/Are also trousers
(Two legs).
They are the only things we trust
In contact with our nethers.
Thus, we are as adventurous as the caddis grub
And less so than frogs or butterflies.

It’s all just pants.

David Tomlinson, October 2008

Look here for pictures of M. Duprat's Caddis Flies