This is the discarded larval skin (the exuvia) of a hawker, probably a southern hawker. I still haven't seen emergence of a dragonfly and missed this one by a day or two.
This exuvia was in a pond in my sister's garden in Somerset so I retrieved it for a closer look. The dragonfly had emerged through the back of the thorax where you can see a split.
Here is a view of the front of the head, showing the labium, a large projectile lower-jaw-like structure with which the larva grabs its prey.
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