www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

A couple of examples seen today by the River Colne. Can someone tell me what they are, please? I see a lot of dragonflies and damselflies on my regular walks here, but rarely try to work out what they are.

Dave

Hi Dave,

your top dragonfly is a male Migrant Hawker. These are late-summer emergers and are quite common at the moment. Middle-sized creatures, smaller than Southern Hawker and the Emperor but larger than the Darters. The diagnostic clinching feature is the yellow "triangle" in segment 2, the widest part of the body just below the wings, plus the brown "shoulders" with short yellow flash are diagnostic. As with many of the larger dragonflies it is simply a matter of colour combination - eye colour, thorax colour, colour and spacing of markings on the abdominal segments. Each is unique and with a pic as good as yours there should no problems coming to an identification.

Then there are the darters which can be very tricky even with good photos. Your second pic is of a mature male Common Darter. The sides of the thorax show the characteristic yellow and brown bands and the legs show some paleness, both features which rule out the very similar Ruddy Darter. Hopefully! Common Darters are still fairly abundant at the moment, these are the "usual" reddish/brown small dragonflies, often seen basking on bare wood or broad leaves.

Hope that sorts things out for you!

Cheers mate,

Gibster.

Thanks for that, Gibster.

I shall file those IDs away for next time, and maybe build up a collection of assorted dragonfly pictures too.

Cheers,

Dave

Can I hijack this thread and ask for an id on this one too? Taken last weekend in north Essex

I would go for a common darter.

Yes, common darter female.
The last species to be seen in the county most years.
Mark.

Thanks. That's what I'd guessed too.