Sphinx

It’s all going a bit third-century crisis down at the pond – which is to say that we’re into day 4 of the great Emperor Dragonfly Emergence 2023, and by my count we’ve now had either 35 or 36. A single Anax imperator emerging from the depths of the pond and breaking out of its exuvia (nymph exoskeleton) is a magnificent experience – they do it at night, to avoid predators before they’ve really got the hang of flying, but I’ve seen them crawling up their chosen reeds in the evening, and then sometimes in the morning a straggler is still extending and drying off its wings before taking to the air with a sudden clatter (for insect-level values of ‘clatter’). With seven or eight of them fighting over the sturdiest reeds in the best positions, the occasion loses a certain amount of dignity, especially when latecomers start locking their legs into position not around a plant stem but around the exuvia of a predecessor, itself locked tightly onto a plant stem.

The total numbers are substantial (having checked my records; yes, of course I have records): pond was established 2020, 15-16 emperors emerged in 2021 and maybe 12 or so in 2022 (it was a bit tricky to be certain, as the tail end of their emergence season overlapped with that of the very similar Southern Hawkers). What is really striking is that this year it’s all packed into such a short period of time, rather than a couple every few nights over several weeks as happened before. My reference books (yes, of course I have reference books) tell me that this is actually normal: emperor dragonflies can spend either one or two years as nymphs, lurking at the bottom of the pond and devouring passing beetles and tadpoles – dragonfly nymphs are scary predators – and while the former emerge sporadically, the latter synchronise their emergence. I imagine the Class of 2021 must have almost all graduated by now, but we’ll have to see this evening. It was actually a relief this morning to see one broad-bodied chaser exuvia amidst all the emperors – is this the Diocletian who will restore a bit of order..?

No, the analogy doesn’t work for an instant – perhaps because I’m more focused on wondering about scholarship on classical ideas about dragonflies. It’s not exactly that I’m now planning an article on the subject; I really, really need to get the book on Thucydides, and a couple of other books to which I’m already committed, out of the way before embarking on any side projects – and anyway I have some thoughts on classical depictions of bats and the history of their association with fear and death to work up first…

But I do have an instinctive wish to start researching around something that fascinates me. There is undoubtedly a case for describing me as having a butterfly mind, randomly fluttering from one topic to the next – epitomised, perhaps, by the way I can pop up on a programme about Vergil’s Georgics to ra,bake enthusiastically about bees. I’m now tempted instead to claim to have a dragonfly mind; zig-zagging around in apparently random directions, but always with ruthless focus in pursuing and seizing a passing topic before moving on to the next thing. And, to mangle the analogy still further, it’s the years spent grubbing around in the mud that provide the basis for present displays of brightly-coloured aerodynamics…

Update: two of today’s emperors developed damaged wings – as sometimes happens, normally if there’s rain as the wings first expand – and, since they couldn’t take off, were eventually eaten by Olga, who has decided to play the role of Persia in this scenario.