And this time it’s all about the Common Hawker Dragonfly. There were a few of these Dragonfly hawking over the tarn and I managed to get some canny shots. Unfortunately, I did not see any Damselflies this year which was a shame.
Male Common Hawker.
Male In flight.
Female Egg laying.
A pair.
More flight shots.
Female in flight.
Our annual visit to Slipper Tarn at Cragside was once again fruitful if you like Dragonflies with loads of Black and Common Darter hawking around the tarn. As you can see by the title of the Blog, I have split it into two again (I seem to be doing it a lot lately) because once again I have too many images.
Male Black Darter.
Female Black Darter.
A tandem pair of Black Darter.
Another tandem pair.
There was pairs of Black Darters all over the place.
Male Black Darter in flight.
Female in flight.
Female Common Darter.
Male Common Darter.
A tandem pair of Common Darter.
I saw only one Southern Hawker however I managed to
get it in flight.
My wife and I had our annual pilgrimage to Slipper Tarn at Cragside last week for the Damsels and Dragons. We were only there an hour because, apart from around five minutes, the, weather was dull and overcast and there were few if any Damsels or Dragons. When the sun did shine for that five minutes there were dozens of Black Darters mating and posing and it was these that I concentrated on I still however did not get many shots.
Male Black Darter.
Nearly every year we go to Slipper Tarn a male Black Darter
will land on my wife, here it is on her hand.
Immature male Black Darter.
A mating pair of Black Darter.
Another mating pair.
The same pair in tandem.
Southern Hawker. This is the only one that stayed still
long enough for me to get some shots.
I think this is a Sericomyia silentis Hoverfly.
Images of Dragonflies from various sites over the last few
weeks. Kibblesworth was predictable I knew what I was going to see however I
didn’t see a lot. Twizell Woods was surprising I didn’t expect to see what I found
there. Cragside was disappointing I say that but it was the weather that was disappointing
(the BBC weather app got it wrong) not the Dragonflies however I have never
seen so few Dragonflies in all the time I have been visiting Slipper Tarn.
Mating Black-tailed Skimmer.
A poor record shot of an Emperor Dragonfly.
I didn’t expect to find a female Brown Hawker at Twizell
Woods.
Hopefully looking good in a couple of years.
Common Hawker.
Female laying eggs.
The same female laying eggs in a different spot.
She was still laying eggs when this male tried to mate with
her. All the wrong settings on the camera.
Southern Hawker.
The reason I went to Cragside Black Darter. This male seems
to be looking at his lunch.
This one took a fancy to my wife even leaving a little gift.
Female Black Darter.
I watched this newly emerged Black Darter crawl up this stem
to dry out.
Common Hawker.
