The Giant Dragonflies of Hatchet Pond

According to my father there was no more mysterious or dangerous stretch of water on earth, than that which is found at Hatchet Pond, just outside the pretty village of Beaulieu.

To him, this water made the Bermuda Triangle look like a village duck pond. Every tale he told about it involved something disappearing into its depths, or some poor unfortunate soul being dragged to their doom, never to be seen again. It seemed like every time he and his school friends went swimming in the pond, there would be one less of them when they came out again. Strangely though, this fact never seemed to stop them going again the next week. The death rate seemed so high, that I always assumed my father reached adulthood with few friends left alive.

According to him, there were not many men who managed to enter Hatchet Pond and come back out again. The most celebrated was the legendary Lardo Jenvey, and to be fair, he was wrestling a cow at the time, so whatever water spirits lived in its depths they were probably enjoying the show too much to even think about dragging him under.

It seems that more aircraft were lost in this bleak water than during the Battle of Britain. At my last count of all that he told me about, there was a biplane, a Spitfire, and two bomber aircraft, one British and one German, which at least seems fair. Frankly, with all the bodies and aircraft wreckage in there I’m surprised that there’s any room left for water. To Tolly (my father’s nickname), it was a dark and foreboding stretch of treacherous water, to everyone else it’s an exquisite New Forest pond and well worth a visit. And not just for the beauty of the place, it’s at Hatchet Pond and the surrounding areas that you will see some of the rarest dragonflies and damselflies in the UK.

Talking of rare dragonflies, the one story about Hatchet Pond that Tolly always insisted was true, took place during the Second World War. Tolly was a young boy back then and he always maintained that once, coming back from school in Beaulieu to his home at East Boldre, he had seen giant dragonflies on Hatchet Pond carrying soldiers off the water. Now, even as a youngster I found this story particularly hard to swallow. It’s entirely possible that someone has drowned in the pond because the waters are deep, and I have heard from other old timers that a plane may, just may, have gone down into it’s depths, or at least flown very close to the surface. But giant dragonflies carrying grown men off the water? That was a stretch even for one of Tolly’s tales. But he would just roll his eyes in that way he had, and in his deep New Forest burr, would say “I’m telling you nipper, I zaw what I zaw and what I zaw I zaw”.

Amazingly Tolly was right. I have since discovered that it’s true. Dragonflies did once carry soldiers off Hatchet Pond, but it’s not the sort of dragonflies I was thinking about. During the run up to D-Day, Hatchet Pond was used to test a number of amphibious vehicles, and one of them was called a Dragonfly. You can see them in action on this YouTube clip here.

Dragonflies at Hatchet Pond

I take my hat off to Tolly. I doubted him all these long years and the old rascal was right all along. He really did see giant dragonflies at Hatchet Pond. But of course, they weren’t the giant dragonflies that I was thinking about, or were they?

The only thing with Tolly, you just never know. When you go there, let me know what you find. But don’t even dip your toe in the pond, or else the water spirits might get you.