Beautiful and Hairy

The dragonfly season is well underway.  The first I saw this year was an immature male Broad-bodied Chaser in Gosforth Nature Reserve on 9th May, also the first sighting of a dragonfly in Northumberland this year.

A few days later I saw three Broad-bodied Chasers emerge from my pond but so far they haven't returned (while I was watching) and no more have appeared.  My next dragonflies were two male Four-spotted Chasers on 19th May, again in Gosforth Nature Reserve.  They were already patrolling and chasing so they must have emerged a few days earlier, unnoticed.

At the weekend I was down in Northamptonshire and saw lots of Beautiful Demoiselles, a species that is not recorded in the North East, although it does occur in Cumbria and on the west coast of Scotland.  This is a mature male.

And an immature male with brown eyes and brown wings.

This is a female.

I also saw one male Banded Demoiselle, a species that we do see up here.

On the way home I called in at RSPB Old Moor near Barnsley and had my first good sighting of Hairy Dragonflies, two males and a fleeting glimpse of an ovipositing female.  This one is also unknown in the North East.  Eventually one of the males landed for long enough for me to take a few photos, even though it was a fair way off and the photo is heavily cropped.  It doesn't look hairy in the photo but closer up the body is a bit furry, an adaptation to cooler weather in its early flight season.   Otherwise it looks a bit smaller and darker than the hawkers we see later in the summer.

This is just the start, with plenty to look forward to as the season progresses.  Let's hope it is a good one.