I spend a fair amount of my time wandering the countryside looking for, and trying to take pictures of the local dragonflies, so it makes a pleasant change when, instead, one comes calling on us. Yesterday, this beauty was perched on a small shrub called a nine bark, right next to where we sit on the terrace at the end of the garden, and didn't seem at all bothered when I approached very close to take his picture.
In fact, he seemed to like our company as he came back later in the day and perched on a toadflax even closer to where we were sitting.
What is irritating is that I'm not sure what species he/she is. My best guess is that he's an immature male southern migrant hawker. If that's what he is, I'm rather pleased as they are not a common species and are very localised in the east of England and north Kent.
Later in the day we went walking along the track that follows the King's Fleet to the Deben estuary, when we saw several other hawkers, including this one. Again, he's a bit special as I think he's a male brown hawker. If that's what he is, this is the first good picture I have of the male of this species.
One of the others we came across was this female migrant hawker - a different species from the southern migrant hawker.
Different dragonfly species can be remarkably similar. This adds interest but does mean that I have to spend a great deal of time on the internet trying to work out what some of them are and, even when I have come to a conclusion, I'm really not sure whether I'm right.
No comments:
Post a Comment