[Maggie] I’ve been trying not to overwhelming these pages with dragonflies, but now it’s time for a catch up. Emperor dragonflies, which were busy hunting over the lodge field earlier in the year, are now nearly gone – a few faded individuals remain. Similarly, the four spot chasers seem to have disappeared now. But gorgeous common darters are hunting from perches around the pond below Balebarn Lodge (the males are red, the females yellow) . And the emperors are being replaced with late summer ‘hawkers’ – migrant hawkers and southern hawkers that fly busily around the pond but also along the hedgerows. Delicate emerald damselflies are still common among the rushes at the waterside, as are blue tailed damselflies, common blue damselflies and azure damselflies. A few of these photos have already been on Facebook, but here’s some that are new to the blog.
And here’s a species list of this year’s dragonflies so far (an impressive 13!):
Large Red Damselfly
Common Blue Damselfy
Azure Damselfly
Blue Tailed Damselfly
Emerald Damselfly
Four Spot Chaser
Emperor Dragonfly
Black Tailed Skimmer
Common Darter
Migrant Hawker
Souther Hawker
Golden Ringed Dragonfly
Beautiful Demoiselle