Brown Hawker Dragonfly - Aeshna grandis (female)

After 13 years here I had my first one last year (I'm not that close to water to expect any), and here's one again. It's running the same patrol area, and although it looks different now I did wonder if it was the same just with changed colours - but as an adult they apparently don't last past a few months - so , no :)

The first shot is this years, the second is last years. I never confirmed ID at the time, but was leaning towards newly hatched (thus not fully coloured) female Migrant Hawker (lacking the waist of the male).

With this colouring it seems to be a Brown Hawker, and per the British Dragonfly Society - Brown Hawker
"...Hunts well away from water and may be found hawking woodland rides well into the evening." - which explains why the hell I have a Dragonfly in my garden! That and the fact that I am a messy gardener so insects love it here - thus lunch for birds and now dragonflies :) According to one photographer (whose site I accidentally closed so can't now quote location) "... In my opinion this is undoubtedly one of the most challenging dragonfly species to approach & capture good images of. " So I've been damned lucky to get a nice shot the first time I spot it!

Lovely colour Louise, and very crisp too. Nice one to log. Well done

Agree, good shots Louise, think I've seen one of those, but not managed to photograph.:)

Here's an attempt to catch one of my visitors in flight. It should have been easier as it would normally take a repeated route around the garden (ooh, my arms hurt holding the camera up!) - but this time she brought a friend with her and they danced about unpredictably. Still - it's a work in progress :)

Hard innit?

I've pretty much given up on Dragonflies in flight, far too frustrating.

Wery well done . Excellent captures and the action pic is great :thumbsup:

Good shot, keep up the good work. Most of my in flight shots go into the bin.