Dragonflies laying eggs - on land???

[Billabong Karen]

Yesterday I was admiring a very handsome, large green dragonfly hunting above my pond. After a while it landed on the edge, and started what looked like egg laying - pressing its posterior onto the ground several times. Surely it cant have been laying eggs? I thought they only did this in the water?? It flew off to another part of the edge of the pond and repeated the behaviour. Any ideas?

[Ukwildlifeo]

Sounds like a hawker definately and the green colour and the fact its a garden pond suggests and southern hawker.

It sounds like it was eggs laying (or at least trying to find somewhere to lay eggs, they test the area using the tip of the abdomen before laying. RoyW posted this recently on another thread). Some hawker species often lay their eggs about the water surface, the idea being that when water levels rise in winter/spring they hatch and the larvae is in a pond full of water. If the water does not rise they will hatch and wriggle across land the short distance to the pond.

[Billabong Karen]

Thank you. That is a very concise and helpful answer!