Dragonfly watching on Bodmin Moor

  Today we visited the pools at Cheesewring Quarry on Bodmin Moor in search of Common Hawker dragonflies. 

  We saw several Common and Southern Hawkers flying around the pools. They were accompanied by several other species, including Black and Common Darters, Large Red Damselfly and a single Beautiful Demoiselle.

  When the sun was out the hawkers flew constantly around the pool, the males fighting with each other with a clattering of wings. The males would also chase any female that dared to fly too close and we saw several pairs of both species sat in the nearby gorse bushes.

  I thought that I would try and photograph the dragonflies in flight. Never an easy subject the photographs below are the best that I managed to take. Whilst I was hoping to photograph the Common Hawkers the best two pictures I took were both of a male Southern Hawker! They were taken with my 105mm macro lens and they have both been cropped.