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.