Back home with the sun still shining I did a quick reccy of the back garden of Dempsey Towers for butterflies...but best of all found this beastie.
A gorgeous Southern Hawker resting on the hedge - look at the antehumeral stripes on that one missus!!!
So good to see a dragonfly at all after the recent weather systems (altho' if the winds stay in the west and the weather gets mucky again it could be good for a seawatch at the weekend).
You can't beat finding infinity in the compound eye of a dragonfly.
Almost took my mind off the Chimney Swift in York, still showing this afternoon. Almost.
Aside from that 2 Small Tortoiseshell, 5 Peacock, 1 Comma, 2 Gatekeeper, 1 Speckled Wood and 1 Large White - not that good for a sunny July afternoon.
Eyes to the skies, everyone, eyes to the skies...
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Walked along bank to the sewage works at Crossens this evening, saw two Brown Hawker dragonflies, also a Greenshank on Crossens Inner.
Mike Bird.
Blacktail numbers seem to have greatly increased at Marshside, I estimated up to 700 spread around Marshside 2 and the outer marsh this evening.
c80 Dunlin and 60 Redshank were on the outer marsh pools with a single Ruff.
2 Little Egrets were seen, and 2 Common Sandpipers were at Sandgrounders.
A Whimbrel was heard calling but not seen.
Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat skulked in the bushes by Sandgrounders.
Hi John.
You did well to get some photographs in the sun, they're great. They can almost help me remember what summer is (grin).
Saw two dragonflies in two days last week, one just like yours, the other slightly smaller and a different colour.
I've never seen dragonflies that big in our neighbourhood before, and I've lived there for 13 years.
Something to do with the weather?
Many of our dragonflies move away from the pools they emerge from as the summer progresses.
The wind can disperse them - and southerlies can bring us vagrants from Europe if we're lucky.
But residents like Brown Hawker, Southern Hawker, Common Darter and soon Migrant Hawker are all possible in built up areas.
I saw an Emperor Dragonfly in the middle of Liverpool city centre a month back - so keep an eye out for them, they are such brilliant insects!
Two Jays in the garden at Dempsey Towers this morning!