Flying Machines

Yesterday afternoon we watched this flying machine hover motionless over the heather-covered slopes of Beinn Bhraggie despite a gusty wind while it first dropped off a medic to care for a casualty and then returned some time later to pick up both casualty and medic. The structure at bottom right, where the accident - if that's what it was, as there's nothing in the news - happened is a wooden bridge across the deer fence at the top of the lower, forested slopes.

This morning we walked up the hill and across Golspie burn to buy some eggs from the Backies croft in bright but distinctly cool weather and, while taking a short cut across some bracken-infested croft land, spotted....

....this magnificent flying machine. The larger dragonflies we've seen over the past few weeks have consistently refused to land so their portraits could be taken but we guessed that this one was waiting to warm up before taking off, though another possible reason is that its abdomen appears damaged.

I'm struggling to identify it. It most resembles a male common hawker but the yellow-green stripes on the side of the thorax are far too wide, and are more like those of the hairy dragonfly - except this one lacks the brown, hairy bit on its thorax.

We returned home via the skating pond which, very unexpectedly, had more dragon- and damselflies than we've seen in weeks. As usual, the hawkers refused to settle but I did get shots of....

....a very handsome male black darter and....

....an equally fine female of the same species. Along with the hawkers, the damselflies eluded me.