1:1 Private Teaching in a dedicated classroom
In my lab, the students do experiments every time they come in, some big and some small. Science is all about learning how the world works. It is about why this does this and how we can explain it.
Dancing on the Breeze: The Brief but Beautiful Life of the Mayfly
Every year, as spring turns to summer and the air begins to warm, something magical happens along rivers and streams across the countryside. Thousands of delicate winged insects rise in shimmering clouds, flickering like confetti in the evening light. These are mayflies, and they’re here for just one reason: to find a mate before time runs out.
Mayflies are among the most ancient insects still alive today. Their lineage stretches back over 300 million years—well before the dinosaurs—and yet, despite their prehistoric pedigree, their adult life is astonishingly short. In fact, most adult mayflies live for less than a single day. Some last only a few hours. But what they lack in longevity, they make up for in spectacle.
The mayfly's story begins not in the air, but in the water. After mating, the female lays thousands of tiny eggs directly onto the surface of a river or stream. These eggs quickly sink and settle into the silt and gravel at the bottom. It is here that the mayfly enters the longest phase of its life—as a nymph.
Mayfly nymphs (also called naiads) live underwater for anywhere from a few months to two years, depending on the species. They are an important part of the aquatic food chain, feeding on algae, detritus, and small plant material. In turn, they provide a critical food source for fish, birds, and other water-dwelling creatures.
During their time underwater, nymphs grow by moulting, shedding their exoskeleton multiple times. These little wrigglers are surprisingly active and can often be seen clinging to stones or swaying with the current in clear streams.
Eventually, the nymph is ready to leave the water. It swims or crawls to the surface, where something remarkable happens—it undergoes a transformation. Emerging from its final nymphal skin, the mayfly takes to the air as a winged adult. But this isn’t its final form just yet.
This first winged stage is called the sub-imago, or more commonly, the ‘dun’. Duns are dull-coloured and slightly clumsy fliers, often with smoky, opaque wings. They rest on nearby vegetation to dry off and prepare for one last moult—the only insect to do so in its adult stage.
After moulting one final time, the mayfly emerges as an imago, the fully mature adult. It now sports clear, glassy wings, a more streamlined body, and often delicate, feathery tails. The transformation is complete—but the clock is ticking.
Mayfly adults don’t eat. They don’t even have functioning mouthparts. Their sole purpose now is to find a mate and reproduce. Males often gather in great swarms over the water, dancing up and down in shimmering clouds. Females fly into the swarm, pair up with a male mid-air, and then return to the water to lay their eggs.
And then, as swiftly as they came, the mayflies vanish. Their bodies, spent from the effort, fall gently onto the water or the ground—providing one last gift to the ecosystem in the form of nutrients for fish, frogs, birds, and other scavengers.
The mayfly's brief appearance is a reminder of nature’s rhythm and resilience. Their lifecycle may seem fleeting to us, but each stage plays a vital role in the health of river ecosystems. For those lucky enough to witness a hatch, it's a moment of wonder—the sky filled with fragile wings, a thousand short stories told in a single day.
So the next time you walk along a riverbank and see a cloud of tiny insects dancing in the evening sun, take a moment to pause. You might be watching one of the oldest and most ephemeral shows on Earth.
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