Finally against the ‘hungry birds odds’ a Southern Hawker has successfully emerged from Jan Shields pond! Lovely to see these garden pond favourites on the wing and if you have a close encounter with a dragonfly the chances are it’ll be this species. Known to be ‘inquisitive’ I’ve often had them hover about 40cm from my face and stay there for quite a long time…certainly long enough for me to look at the ‘head and tail lights’ – the broad antehumeral stripes and the solid band of pigment where the dots have actually merged at the end of the abdomen.
