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Ruddy Darter feeling the heat?!

By August 10, 2016Blog

Jan Shields has been grabbing the recent windows of sunshine at Mousecroft Pool in Shrewsbury and took this lovely shot of a Ruddy Darter in the ‘obelisk’ position. The insect points it’s abdomen directly at the sun to minimize the surface area of the body that absorbs the heat. Unsurprisingly, we don’t see this position adopted too often in Shropshire! Jan also saw Common Darters and a number of Brown Hawkers including the ovipositing females shown below.

Elsewhere- just over the border in Wales- Stephen Barlow photographed this recently emerged Migrant Hawker and saw a mating pair, so it shouldn’t be too long before we get the first 2016 Shropshire sightings….