Andrew Turner has sent in these lovely photos of a male Golden-ringed Dragonfly seen at Cramer Gutter. They really illustrate close up the fabulous green eyes that meet just at a single point. You can also see the yellow costa (leading wing vein) on each wing and the golden rings running down the abdomen. Jan Shields has also been spotting Golden-ringeds at Carding Mill Valley and also this immature male Southern Hawker (below right). Despite the colours still being very pale the markings still tell me this is a Southern Hawker with very thick antehumeral stripes and continuous bands of colour towards the end of the abdomen where the dots ‘fuse together.’ I can also tell it is a male by the waisted abdomen and sharp hind angles of the wings near the abdomen. In a female the body is broader and parallel sided and the hind angles of the wings are gently rounded.
