The first stag beetle of the year whirred through the garden yesterday evening, always nice to see. I only see these huge beetles on a few days around mid summer and they are generally flying over at 15 to 20 feet, so I have yet to get close enough to one for a photo. The larvae of stag beetles live in rotting wood for 6 to 7 years before they emerge as adult beetles and there is certainly plenty of that in the largely unmanaged woodland adjacent to the house.
After watching the stag beetle, my attention was drawn to the pond, where I could hear faint dripping. I then noticed some pond foliage moving and was delighted to see a Southern Hawker larva climbing up a stem, where it eventually found its final resting position. Slightly beyond this was another larva that had begun its transformation into dragonfly. I was able to watch the dragonfly begin to emerge from the skin through a small slit just below the head. It was about half emerged before the light faded and will no doubt have flown by early morning. The only time I have seen semi-emerged dragonflies in the morning is when the weather suddenly turns wet, as this seems to delay the process. I have attached a couple of photos of just such an instance when an Emperor Dragonfly had emerged, but was still drying out its wings. This was taken in 2005, but it gives you an idea of what I saw this evening.
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