David Element's Wildlife Web Page Dragonflies and Damselflies 2

David Element

Wildlife Photography and Digital Video Images

_________________________________________________Dragonflies and Damselflies 2 – Hairy Dragonflies

HAIRY DRAGONFLY Brachytron pratense (f)

The Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense is the first hawker dragonfly to be seen on the wing in early summer, and therefore relatively easy to identify in the absence of any similar species until they emerge. Although these insects are conspicuous when flying over rivers they tend to roost in rather inaccessible and boggy areas, and they are therefore quite difficult to approach. There is good evidence to suggest that there has been a recent range-expansion of this species, presumably in response to global-warming and the final two photographs were taken at a site where this species had recently begun to breed successfully in London. Unfortunately, older transparency photographs of the male of this species cannot be reproduced in this format – and these are not the easiest of insects to locate so replacing them may take some time.