Southern Hawker Emergence

During the last week of June, whilst we were checking the acid pools of Ashdown Forest, Bob and I came across a female Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea) in the process of emerging from the nymph. The last photograph in the following sequence was of a different female cyanea found in another pool, with wings fully expanded.

 

 

Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea) (females emerging from nymph)

 

 

 

In May, I watched this male Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) hawking along a hedgerow on Pevensey Levels. It caught a bee and then settled on an ivy bush to devour its prey.

 

 

Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) (male devouring a bee)

 

 

The Small Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma viridulum) is a species that has rapidly colonised south-east England from the continent in recent years. Its smaller size and the blue 'saddle' under segment 8 of the abdomen are diagnostic in separating this species from the very similar Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma najas). Both species can be found in similar habitats and the male in the following image was photographed at a Wealden pond during the second week of August.

 

 

Small Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma viridulum) (male)