Roy Hilton found a Migrant Hawker dragonfly on vegetation near the pond in his garden. This species is expanding its range and has moved into Northern England over the past 15years. It flies during August & September.
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| Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) |
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| Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) |
There are four blue/green hawker dragonflies that might be seen in our area: the Common Hawker (
Aeshna juncea), the Migrant Hawker (
Aeshna mixta), the Southern Hawker (
Aeshna cyanea) and the Hairy Dragonfly (
Aeshna caerulea). Two features which show up well in these photos distinguish this as a Migrant Hawker: on the second segment of the abdomen (which seems to be part of the thorax), there is a distinct 'T' (or golf tee) shaped yellow/white mark; and the leading edge of the wings (the 'costa') is brown. The most similar of these four species is the Common Hawker, which lacks the 'T' and has a bright yellow costa. The Southern Hawker has very broad coloured stripes on the thorax, and bands of colour (blue/green) on the last two segments, rather than the two dots of Migrant and Common Hawkers. The Hairy Dragonfly has a yellow costa, small oval-shaped dots at top of each abdominal segment and the sides of the thorax are extensively green.
Roy Hilton
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