Whilst working in the wood last weekend, Carol and I stopped regularly for tea breaks and to watch three or four Downy Emerald Dragonflies (Cordulia aenea) hawking the woodland edge. This lovely species looks black in flight and it holds its abdomen in an upward tilt making it easy to identify. Frustratingly, it spends much of its time hawking well above head height but occasionally it will descend to rest on lower branches or bracken fronds and only then can you see that it is actually an iridescent dark green colour with bronze highlights.
Downy Emerald (Cordulia aenea) (male)
Back on Pevensey Levels this week, I spotted a Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) in the act of emerging from the nymph. This process never ceases to take my breath away.
Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) (emerging from nymph)
...and from the moth-trap this week...
Peppered Moth (Biston betularia) (male)
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