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Creepy-Crawly Poetry -
Stoneflies
These insects can be found living alongside streams and rivers that have stony beds and rocky or stony banks. Some species prefer fast-running waters such as mountain streams, whilst other species prefer slower, calmer waters. But whatever the species, they nearly always prefer running water, or well-oxygenated water, and so will not normally be attracted to lakes or ponds. Stoneflies are coloured either yellow/brown or dark brown or sometimes almost black - and they have long, narrow, almost rectangular bodies with a couple of tails or 'cerci' at the end of the abdomen. The adult stoneflies don't feed - only their offspring or 'nymphs' feed. The nymphs are aquatic predators; hunting for tiny fresh morsels in the water, but they may also scavenge when necessary.
As the Crow Flies Over the Stoneflies
A birds-eye view of the bed of a stream
will include reeds and pebbles and fish that teem;
and along the banks down both shallow sides
are lots of small stones amongst which insects hide.
Some stones are in mud and some are in sand
whilst some are the kind on which a fly might land;
and meanwhile the bird that's soaring up in the air
tries to spot it's prey crawling around down there.
The bird hovers and circles and glides in quite low
in search of an insect that's moving too slow;
and if one of the flies stays on the same stone too long
the bird will swoop down and the fly will be gone!
Stonefly
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Stoneflies
