Who’d have thought you could get too hot up on the Longmynd? Miles Leach has taken this great shot of a Black Darter male obelisking at Pole Cottage Pools. Usually such black coloration helps to absorb the suns heat, but on those very occasional hot August afternoons things can get too much and so the abdomen is directed toward the sun reducing the surface area exposed to the full impact of the rays.
Elsewhere Miles was surprised to see his first Common Hawker (male shown below) near Tugford, some distance from the acidic pools of Brown Clee Hill. Seen hawking for insects near a stream, this male had fairly opaque wings illustrating it’s recent emergence and perhaps explaining why it was keeping a distance from more typical (and competitive) habitat areas until mature.
