I had a feeling that I’d see my first #dragonfly of the year today & I was right 🙂
A new species for me too – a male hairy hawker (Brachytron pratense) sunbathing in the grass 😻
Initially similar to other hawkers, like the migrant (Aeshna mixta) which I see a lot of, the hairy hawker flies much earlier in the year & is, well, hairy 🤷♂️🙂
Anyone know what the pink blob is under the anal appendages?
Was talking this morning about how lovely our garden is for damselflies & dragonflies in the summer, but didn’t expect to see my first Odonata of the season the same day 🙂
This is a large red damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula), usually the first damselflies of the year to emerge in April & May, in a quick iPhone picture.
The yellow shoulder stripes & abdomen appendages identify it as an immature male.
Nothing like as big & showy as their dragonfly cousins, I nevertheless do have a soft spot for the more delicate damselflies that spend time in our garden 🙂
This was just one of a number of common winter damselflies (Sympecma fusca) soaking up the sun today ahead of the colder months ahead 🥶
This summer’s dragonflies are really showing their age by now 👵
This female vagrant darter (Sympetrum vulgatum) has taken on a much darker brown colouration, replacing her younger yellows, while her male counterparts are firebrick red – if only I could persuade one to pose for me 🤷♂️
Turns out that I had an even better shot of that vagrant darter dragonfly in the garden today, with its face in focus & the lens flare sunbeam more squarely anointing it as the chosen one 🤷♂️