We rescued a dragonfly

We rescued a dragonfly on Sunday 18 April 2021. 

(Btw, I wrote about this as part of a longer Adventures with Flies piece, but figured it deserved its own post.)

 We went for an early dog walk at around 2.30pm. Part of the reason for going earlier was that LittleOne had had a spectacularly short sleep the previous night (4! hours 🤦‍♀️) and a catch-up nap which had ended too soon. So I was really hoping a walk on a pleasant cool Sunday afternoon might prove... lulling. 

The second reason was to give my Indi-woofer-girl a longer walk. With the days growing shorter, by the time I finish work, get home and wrangle everyone outside, there's usually only time for a brisk, rushed walk. 

So, off we went. 

LittleOne decided we were to go a different way. On the previous day's walk, I'd noticed a new puppy barking at us from a very unkempt house and garden (the kind of unkempt where you're not sure if the house is being lived/squatted in or not). So, with LittleOne's decree to change our usual direction, I used the opportunity to head towards this house. You know, just to make sure the pup was ok, that there was someone living there and the  hadn't been dumped etc etc. (There was a reasonably newish-looking car outside, and no pup to be seen, so I will assume all is good for now.) 

En route, LittleOne pointed out a dragonfly unmoving in mid-air between two trees. We quickly realised it was trapped in a giant spiderweb that was almost invisible in the afternoon light. There was no spider in sight and the dragonfly gave a single desperate flap and stayed stuck where it was. It was alive. 

Yes, of course I tried to get it down. 

The web was the absolutely stickiest web I'd ever come across. I was using a flimsy dried branch for my rescue and it snapped when the sticky web resisted. I eventually got the dragonfly down, but its two left wings had become sort of stuck together with the web. Like chewing gum. I popped the dragonfly on a bush and left it there, with the awful feeling of having made its fate worse. I didn't know what else I could do. 

On the way back, the dragonfly was still on the bush, clutching tight to a leaf. LittleOne asked if "my dragonfly" was still there. I gritted my teeth, lied and said I couldn't see it. 

We got home and I released Indi-woof-girl off her leash to get a long drink and quickly did a google of dragonflies and webs. I saw the following results: 

I skimmed these snippets and didn't even click on them. It was all I needed to know - that others had tried to rescue dragonflies from spiderwebs. 

I gave Indi stern instructions to stay on the back deck and not follow us, grabbed a plastic tub and LittleOne to go on a dragonfly rescue mission. LittleOne walked brave and fast with me, calling us "superheroes". I wished I had the same faith. 

Back home, with dragonfly on our back deck table, to the occasional "come on, little guy" encouragement from LittleOne, I coaxed the dragonfly to hold onto my finger (per the blog extract Google had shown me) and tried to pull at the web with a wet finger. 

The stickiness was on a par with superglue or gum! It was vicious and persistent. Every time my fingers dried, the web stuck my finger fast to the dragonfly's wing! If I pulled too hard, I pulled the dragonfly off my other finger by its wing. 

Eventually, after trying a pen knife and then a twig to cut through and wind around the sticky strands, I got enough of the sticky web off that I was able to separate the wings. Phew! Step one. 

Then, I managed to remove all visible sticky strands from the wings. One of the wings was slightly crumpled. The dragonfly sat on the table, unmoving, overly slumped to its left, traumatised wings. Not knowing what else to do, we left it and went inside. 

I popped out a couple of times to check on it in the next 5-10 minutes. It wasn't moving. Maybe I thought, I could wet a finger and tried to run it along the wing in case there was more web. I tried it. The dragonfly fluttered its wings, as though it was an unpleasant feeling. Which I'm sure it was. I didn't know how much damage I was doing to the dragonfly by blundering around trying to help. I didn't know how much energy it had expended trying to escape the web in the first place. I didn't know. 

I checked google for what they ate. Mozzies, amongst other things. Easy. I went to our magic Poinciana tree and within 2 minutes had killed a mozzie. I stuck it under the dragonfly's nose with a drop of water. It didn't react. I told myself I couldn't do any more. 

I went inside. 

I went outside again. 

I couldn't see the dragonfly on the table. My heart leapt. Then I saw it struggling to hold on at the edge of the table. My heart dropped. I went and broke a little branch with some green leaves on it and ushered away from the edge, hoping the natural greenery might help the dragonfly feel more comfortable. The dragonfly buzzed its wings and didn't look interested in the green. 

I went inside. The afternoon was drifting to cool as the shadows started to pull long. 

I came back out. The dragonfly was still on the table, its neck pushed down at a strange angle, as though it couldn't support its head comfortably. I watched it sadly. It sat there, unmoving. 

Then it fluttered its wings to the edge of the table again. Head still drooping oddly, still leaning heavily to its left side. But this time, it seemed to have a... purpose its actions, rather than just trying to gather its strength. 

This time, I left it where it was at the table edge and just watched as it dropped one inch so that it was hanging on the side of the tablecloth (perpendicular to the ground). Then it dropped another inch. It perched there. Looking more... - could it be - more comfortable? It buzzed its wings. It definitely looked more comfortable. Even purposeful. It buzzed its wings again and did a sudden little jump two inches to the left. 

Then, almost immediately, it buzzed its wings again, fluttered and flew! Unsteadily for the first metre, then it swooped. Gloriously, confidently towards a tall hedge. 

It flew free! 

Yes, I cried. I ran inside to let everyone know our dragonfly had flown away. We did it! 

Fly well, little dragonfly💕

Du fond du coeur.