Monday, 26 July 2010

Dragonflies (2): WWT Llanelli

[1]
A male Broad-Bodied Chaser
Libellula depressa

I shall return to my Scottish wildlife encounters soon,
but meanwhile here is a post about Wales.

It was a warm grey afternoon at WWT Llanelli.
The sun made a few welcome appearances,
and we saw a range of Lepidoptera,
including this Chaser.

Detail of intricate wing structure

[2]


The photographs above and below [detail and whole dragonfly]
are, I believe, male and female of the same species,
since they seemed to be a pair.
I think they may be Common Darters;
and if so, the top one is the female.
[3]



We also saw these ones:

[4]


The ‘threads’ here indicate a dragonfly recently emerged from the aquatic nymph phase.

[5]

Notice the wings in the shot above.
[6]


This Dragonfly was less green and more red.
It may be an immature male Common Darter [Sympetrum striolatum]

It's hard to tell whether there is a yellow stripe along the legs,
but the wing tips are marked with a rusty pterostigma [wing cell or spot].

The yellow stripe was visible in the photo below,
when I viewed it at 80%.
[7]


Click to enlarge!

[8]



My guess is that this is a male
Southern Hawker,
though it may well be a Common Hawker.
The colour is pale turquoise blue,
despite the fact that it looks a bit green here.



N.B. I have tried to give each Dragonfly a number e.g. [1],
regardless of species.
[4] and [5] may be the same creature...


My thanks to David Gill for taking these photographs for me:
my dominant arm is still sling-bound!



Meanwhile, you might enjoy these:

Resource:
  • Guide to Dragonflies and Damselflies of Britain by Steve Brooks, illustrated by Richard Askew (Natural History Museum Publication)
  • Professor P. Brain's blog
  • Dragonfly Days [South Wales, UK] - with an excellent Dragonfly Anatomy diagram
  • The July-September 2010 edition of Waterlife [WWT] has excellent features on Dragonflies [p.30, p.41 and p.48]

2 comments:

Naquillity said...

he's right handsome. have a great night.

Heather said...

These dragonfly photos are amazing and so clear. We have installed a larger garden pond this year - though it is still relatively small - and I would love to have a visit from one of these magnificent insects. I live in hope! Do hope your arm is making a good recovery.