Southern Hawker

 I had been extolling the virtues of Twizell Woods to my wife for ages and telling her, she should have a look the next time I went. For one reason or another, she could not make it then one day she said she would come with me to see what it was like. We arrived at the woods and the first thing I noticed was that the grass on either side of the path had been cut down (or so I thought). We carried on to the ponds to look for dragonfly. When we got to the ponds, I realised that the grass had not been cut but flattened. Some morons had been through the woods on quad bikes and destroyed nearly all of the vegetation around all five of the small ponds. They had driven through the ponds churning up the water and making the ponds a muddy mess. I had been telling my wife how lovely this place was and here she was looking at devastation. Now I know the ponds will soon recover but I wonder what damage has been done, by those morons, to the wildlife in the ponds and how that will recover.  I went back a couple of days later, the ponds had cleared and there were a few dragonflies flying around so signs of recovery. There were quite a few Southern Hawkers around so here are a few images I managed to get of said dragonfly.

Female Migrant Hawker laying eggs (thanks for the ID Alan)