Female broadbodied chaser behaviour

[Susie]

A few weeks ago I was sitting by a pond watching a male broadbodied chaser. A female came along and he tried to pair with her but she wasn't interested and was trying to dip her abdomen into the pond to lay eggs. He continued to harrass her and eventually she moved to the lawn nearby and dipped her abdomen onto the grass there. Could she really be laying eggs on the grass and, if so, did they stand any chance of survival?

[RoyW]

Some dragonflies do occasionally lay their eggs into grass near ponds (this is especially true of some darter species that tend to breed in very shallow ponds).
Usually the dragonfly is expecting (or hoping!) that the pond will increase in size following rains in the autumn and winter, so that the eggs will then be in water when they hatch. Also, when the eggs first hatch the larvae will still be encased inside a sac that doesn't break until the larvae is in water. Larvae that hatch from eggs laid above, or beside, water "jump around" by flicking their bodies while they are inside this sac, so might reach water - it all depends how far away from the water the eggs have been laid.

[Susie]

Thank you, Roy, that's very interesting and informative.