Late summer dragonflies

It has been a funny old season for dragonflies, warm and sunny in June, cool, cloudy and wet in July and August and hot in early September.  Good for early and late species, less so in mid season.  Even now it is still relatively warm and there are hawkers and darters on the wing.  Here are a few of my sightings in the past few weeks.

A male common hawker at Cragside.

An immature male migrant hawker at Gosforth.

A mature male migrant hawker at Gosforth.

A male southern hawker at Gosforth.

A female migrant hawker at Gosforth.

Migrant hawkers at Gosforth.

Common darters at Cragside.

Black darters at Cragside.

Male common darters at Hepple Whitefield.

A male ruddy darter at Gosforth.

A male black darter at Gosforth.

Younger and older emerald damselflies at Hepple Whitefield.

That's probably it for the season although common darters and migrant hawkers will be around for a while.  It will be six months before I see a large red damselfly next spring.