Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 530
Dragonflies
Hello Everyone
Once last summer, l was sitting by the pond in a clearing in the woods with Bill and Bob.
There were lots of insects around the pond.
We noticed that some of the dragonflies folded their wings down their body and some didn’t. The reason for this was because not every creature we saw was in fact a dragonfly. We were seeing damselflies as well.
The two creatures have the same ancestors. lf you ever see a painting of dinosaurs, you will often see that the artist will put dragonflies into the picture because we know that they are very ancient creatures.
ln those days, they could be very big as well, with wingspans up to 75cm or 30 inches!
The two groups split apart 270 million years ago but are found in the same habitat.
They both belong to a family of creatures called Odonata.
They are cold-blooded insects and become more energetic in the heat of the sun which is why we saw so many on such a lovely day.
lf they start overheating, they can fly over the water and touch the water in order to cool themselves down.
They are ancient predators supremely able to hunt down their insect prey.
They are the most successful hunters of the insect world.
They can fly at over 30kph and are masterful fliers being able to change direction quickly and also hover. Some of the larger ones can reach up to about 50kph. Some migrate huge distances over the ocean.
So how can you tell the difference between dragonflies and damselflies?
Well, dragonflies have bigger chunkier bodies and front wings slightly smaller than the back wings. The wings are different shapes at the back compared to the front as well.
When at rest dragonflies keep their wings open.
Their eyes are wrapped around their head and meet at the top. This means they are well adapted to attack their prey from beneath while it is on the wing. Some of their prey seems very big compared to their own body mass.
A damsel fly is smaller than a dragonfly.
lt has a long, thin abdomen and four wings that are the same shape and size.
When they are at rest they fold their wings back along their body.
They have two large compound eyes. This means like humans and other animals with two eyes, they are able to judge distances. The two eyes give depth perception. The eyes are at the sides of their heads.
They hunt in a different way from dragonflies. They can hunt insects that are perched on something as well as when they are flying.
They attack as they fly forwards not upwards like the dragonflies.
They both can have amazing colours which strike you when they fly past you.
They can be green, white, red, orange and bright turquoise; which sometimes look shiny and metallic. Throughout the world there are over 3,000 species and there are at least 56 in Britain.
Like a lot of other creatures they live everywhere except in the cold continent of Antarctica.
They can live in very hot places and in mountainous regions.
Some like still water and some like flowing. Some like to live in peat bogs.
They are territorial, guarding the boundaries of their chosen domain.
Young dragonflies hatch from eggs and are called nymphs and live underwater. They eat tadpoles, fish and other creatures living in the pond. They breathe underwater by using gills.
They can hide or burrow themselves away and are often camouflaged in colours of brown, grey and green to match in with the debris found at the bottom of a pond.
As the nymph develops it moults as it grows and develops wings in the process. Eventually, it crawls out of the water, moults one last time and emerges as an adult.
The adults will breed and lay eggs to begin the process again. They may live as nymphs for years and yet as adults for only a few days or weeks.
Dragonflies and damselflies breed in the summer and autumn months. They will lay their eggs in a place where the nymphs can access the water that will be their first home when they hatch out.
Loss of wetland habitats across the world threaten their existence which is why making a garden pond, even a small one can help to sustain this kind of wildlife and add to wildlife corridors.
Some dragonflies are becoming extinct even before they are identified and named.
lf you like my blog, please support it by telling all your friends and followers about it.
Thank you!
And see you again next Fun Friday!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bill: Do you know why you never see fish playing football?
Bob: Yes, they are too frightened to get near to a net.
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
Emperor dragonfly
White-legged damselfly
Colourful wings
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
This week, Bill and Bob found a slowworm in their compost heap again.
Slowworms like compost heaps because they generate heat so they are nice and warm to hide in.
A slowworm is neither a slow nor a worm. It is not a snake either.
It is actually a lizard without legs.
Slowworms have eyelids to blink away grit. They burrow a lot so they need to have a way to clean their eyes in this way.
They have external ears.
Bill and Bob’s mum didn’t like it being there much, but the twins said that it could have been worse. In the Caribbean lizards come into the houses and climb up the walls. At least their slowworm had not come into the house.
They told her that slowworms eat slugs, which was a good thing for people like them who grew lettuces.
She wasn’t convinced and said it had to go.
Bill and Bob left it where it was because they knew their mum wasn’t going to pull the compost heap apart any time soon.
That was their job as they were getting ready to start their new vegetable growing season.
Compost heaps can be square, rectangular or round. They can be any shape that fits into your garden, allotment or plot.
Bill and Bob have made you a fun quiz about geometric and mathematical shapes.
Can you answer these questions?
The answers are all shapes that you see in your maths lessons…
- Where an outdoor market is held
- Where a circus is held
- Something that flies in the air on the end of a string
- A famous cricket ground in London
- The shape of a die
- The shape of King Arthur’s table
- The shape of a soccer pitch
- The shape of a lampshade
- A musical instrument
- The sign for infinite – it has no end
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Quick Quiz
What word can match up with the three following words?
For example;
Cheese – board triangle sandwich
- cover time room
- party plant bound
- wheel sport mill
- pot scraper brush
- shelf mark cover
- line keeper hive
- table bath food
- needle bag pattern
- station timetable tracks
- box bar cake
- collar sleeve button
- leg cloth mat
- ball bag sanitizer
- ticket book assistant
- field bread flower
- bag pot cup
- bowl crackers shell
- factory shop box
- pool lesson costume
- time dress owl
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A MlNl PLASTlC CANVAS BOOK MARK
This book mark is very pretty and very colourful.
It is very small because some children’s books are very tiny, but you can make a book mark as big as you want it to be.
You could make it so it is double layered with the back of your work hidden and then sew around the outside to hold the two pieces together, but if not, the back of your work will be on show so try to make it really neat. There aren’t a lot of colours introduced to help the back remain neat.
You could use rainbow yarn if you like; the bigger the bookmark the more colour changes you will get.
You can use an off-cut from another project because the size and shape of the bookmark does not really matter.
This is a really good project for a child who has never sewn before.
It would be a good idea to design the pattern before you start working to make sure you like your design before you start stitching.
Firstly, draw dots on a piece of paper to represent the holes in your canvas. Draw crosses between the dots to represent your stitches and use colour pencils if you like to represent the colours you want to use.
There will be a different number of stitches to the number of holes. For example if you have 8 holes across your canvas, you will sew 7 stitches into them so be aware of this when you draw your design.
Use cross stitch and make sure that your crosses all go in the same direction.
You can incorporate an initial or symbol or word or pattern into your design. The bookmark in the photo has an arrow on it which is a simple design for such a small item.
When you are happy with your design, you can start stitching.
The pattern you create will be unique; you are the designer.
Don’t push your bookmark too far into the back of your book so that it puts strain onto the spine of the book.
And don’t leave your book mark in any library books that you take back!
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
Answers to the News Desk Quiz
- Where an outdoor market is held – a market square
- Where a circus is held – in a arena shaped like a circle
- Something that flies in the air on the end of a string – a kite
- A famous cricket ground in London – The Oval
- The shape of a die – a cube
- The shape of King Arthur’s table – round
- The shape of a soccer pitch – a rectangle
- The shape of a lampshade – a trapezium
- A musical instrument – a triangle
- The sign for infinite – it has no end – a figure of eight on its side
A lemniscate
Honeycomb is always made in hexagons
Quick Quiz Answers
- bed – cover time room
- house – party plant bound
- water – wheel sport mill
- paint – pot scraper brush
- book – shelf mark cover
- bee – line keeper hive
- bird – table bath food
- knitting – needle bag pattern
- train – station timetable tracks
- chocolate – box bar cake
- shirt – collar sleeve button
- table – leg cloth mat
- hand – ball bag sanitizer
- library – ticket book assistant
- corn – field bread flower
- tea – bag pot cup
- nut – bowl crackers shell
- toy – factory shop box
- swimming – pool lesson costume
- night – time dress owl
Nut crackers
Corn flowers
Water sports
(No, it is not real, before you ask!)
