05 Thursday May 2022
Posted in insects
Golden dragon sounds like the name of a Chinese restaurant but no! This particular golden dragon is a Broad-bodied chaser (Libellula depressa), my first dragonfly of the year and a glorious glowing beauty, I’m sure you’ll agree. Now that my long lens is out of action and I’ve only got my point-and-shoot camera for photos, I didn’t think I’d be able to get good dragonflies shots this year. But this dragon was busy munching on its lunch so I was able to get quite close.
25 Wednesday Aug 2021
Posted in insects
I think I can safely predict that there will be more Common darters at Casehill Woods next year after catching this pair procreating in today’s warm sunshine. The male had found himself the perfect perch on this Ash sapling and, as always with dragonflies, the female looks like she’s hanging on for dear life.
20 Tuesday Jul 2021
Tags
Black-tailed skimmer, British dragonflies, Broad-bodied Chaser, dragonfly, Emperor, Southern hawker
Our local dragonflies seem to relish this hot summer weather we’ve been experiencing, but they are so speedy and flighty I find them quite difficult to photograph. Fortunately, these few were more co-operative …
Black-tailed skimmer
Emperor
Broad-bodied chaser
Southern hawker
16 Friday Oct 2020
You might think, as I certainly did, that the much cooler overnight temperatures we’re now experiencing here in south Wales would mean an end to the hawking flights of dragonflies over our fields and along our hedgerows but I was rather dramatically proved wrong during yesterday’s meander around Cosmeston Lakes Country Park. I didn’t spot just one or two Migrant hawkers but seven (!), the most I’ve seen in one day ever. These are three of them, two of the males and the solitary female. A delight of dragonflies!
22 Saturday Aug 2020
Though Common darters are now, well, common around my local haunts, I’ve seen very few of the larger dragonflies this year, perhaps because last year’s extremely dry summer caused many local ponds to dry up completely. These are two recent finds …
This Southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea) was patrolling a section of a local bridle way/cycle path/walking track called Mile Road and, though I walk this lane quite often, I only saw the dragonfly once. Perhaps it decided the amount of horse/cycle/people traffic along the lane wasn’t conducive to good insect hunting.
I watched this Migrant hawker (Aeshna mixta) for several minutes on Thursday before it finally settled on a nearby tree (I often feel like my head is waving around like I’m a spectator at some kind of crazy tennis match when I’m watching dragonflies). The perch was a little high up for crisp photos but I was pleased to see this, my first Migrant hawker of the year.
29 Wednesday Jul 2020
From Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss’s Wonderland: A Year of Britain’s Wildlife Day by Day:
‘Common and widespread though it may be, this small, neat dragonfly is always worth a second look. The males are brick red and the females yellow, so I use the aide-memoire “rhubarb and custard” to remember this.’
Which dragonfly is being described? I’m sure many of you worked out it was the Common darter, which is flying now in my local parks and reserves, though in quite small numbers so far.
04 Thursday Jun 2020
This dragonfly was another of the beasties I found during Tuesday’s walk at Casehill Woods (see yesterday’s post A new hoverfly for the other). This is, of course, the largest of Britain’s dragonflies, a male Emperor (Anax imperator). This is not my first Emperor sighting of the year but it is the first I’ve managed to photograph – though it initially flew off along the ride in front of me, this beautiful creature very obligingly returned to where it had been perching and stayed put for me to admire it – which I most definitely did!
01 Monday Jun 2020
The Black-tailed skimmers are out and about again at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, and I was delighted to spot both males and females during last Saturday’s exercise walk.
My guide book*, and most websites I’ve checked, say these dragonflies are ‘typically found resting on bare surfaces near water’, and, as its name implies, Cosmeston has two large lakes, as well as a dragonfly pond. But, perhaps surprisingly, I often find these dragonflies several hundred metres away from water, basking on the bare dirt of the tracks through the wildflower meadows.
The females and immature males are yellow and black, with what’s described as a ‘ladder’ pattern on their abdomens. One female I found this week had a twisted abdomen – perhaps she was damaged when transitioning from a larva to an adult. Luckily, she was still able to fly freely.
Mature male Black-tailed skimmers have a blue abdomen, which darkens to black at the end, hence the name of the species.
* I have the new edition of Europe’s Dragonflies by Dave Smallshire and Andy Swash – highly recommended, and I’m not just saying that because I got a complimentary copy in return for having one of my photos included in the book.
06 Wednesday May 2020
I was delighted to see my first dragonflies of the year at Lavernock Nature Reserve during this morning’s walk: two female (with the golden abdomen) and two male (blue abdomen) Broad-bodied chasers.
23 Wednesday Oct 2019
Yesterday was the first time I’ve ever seen female (on the left) and male Migrant hawkers together. These two were hanging on a fence at Goldcliff lagoons, near Newport. What a treat!
earthstar 
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