This page is the surface of a pond. Move your pointer across the water and your bug will fly, skate or swim after you. Choose a different bug at the bottom, and tap the notes to open them.
Macclesfield right now checking the sky…
Southern hawkers often fly right up to a person, hover for a second, and fly on.
Its two huge eyes meet on top of its head and contain tens of thousands of tiny lenses.
Each wing moves on its own, so it can hover, fly backwards and turn on the spot.
The young, called nymphs, live in the pond for two or three years, hunting tadpoles and other insects.
The nymph has a hinged lower lip with hooks that fires forward to grab its prey.
Dragonflies were flying 300 million years ago. Some then had wings as wide as a crow's.
Meet them all
Aeshna cyanea
A large, dark dragonfly spotted with apple green, with blue marks towards the tail in the male.
Calopteryx splendens
A slender, metallic damselfly. The male is shining blue with a dark band across each wing. The female is green.
Gerris lacustris
A thin, dark brown bug that stands on the surface of the water on four long legs.
Gyrinus substriatus
Tiny, oval, shiny black beetles that spin round and round on the surface of the water like dodgems.
Dytiscus marginalis
A large, oval, olive-black beetle edged in yellow, with long hairy back legs that it uses as oars.
Ephemera danica
A delicate, pale insect with upright, see-through wings veined in brown and three long tails.
Through the year
The green months are when you can see each one as an adult in Britain. Most spend far longer under water as young. The bug following you is shown in red.
Lend a hand
Even a washing-up bowl sunk into the ground will have pond skaters on it within days.
A gently sloping edge lets creatures climb in and out, and warms up quickly in spring.
Goldfish eat dragonfly larvae, tadpoles and almost everything else.
Dragonfly larvae climb up reeds and irises to turn into adults. Without stems they cannot get out.
Tap water is full of plant food and turns a pond green. Top it up from a water butt.
Remove weed in autumn, a third at a time, and leave it on the edge overnight so that animals can crawl back.
British bugs: 4 more places
Real photos of the bugs on this page. Tap one to see it bigger.
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons and are used under free licences. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews. Open a photo to see who took it.
Most pond insects live twice: first for months or years under water, then for a few weeks in the air. A pond without fish is the best place of all to watch both.
Back to the topThese live somewhere else: choosing one takes you to their page.
These live somewhere else: choosing one takes you to their page.
These live somewhere else: choosing one takes you to their page.
These live somewhere else: choosing one takes you to their page.
Bugs from other parts of the world live on their own pages: choose another.