Common Hawker and Friends

Every summer I like to visit Wragg's Quarry on Beeley Moor to look for the Dragon and Damselflies that live and breed there (see here for details of my last visit) There is a small pond in the bottom of the quarry, which is home to several species.

Pond in Wragg's Quarry

I popped up on Wednesday, and recorded 4 species: Large Red Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly and Common Hawker.

The Large Red Damselflies were all males, and were seen basking on the stones around the pond.

Large Red Damselfly

The Common Blue Damselflies were also flying around the pond, but several were also "in tandem" and ovipositing (egg laying) into the water. I didn't manage to get a photo of this, but I got one of the males sitting on a stone by the water,

Common Blue Damselfly

The Emerald and Azure Damselflies were also busy mating and egg laying. There were quite distant, but I managed to get photos of each species.

Azure Damselflies ovipositing

Emerald Damselfly "in tandem"

The final dragonfly seen was the Common Hawker. This dragonfly is a lot less common than the other species, being more restricted in the type of habitats it likes to inhabit. It prefers acidic waters, so the pool on the moors is perfect. There were 2 females present during my visit, both of which were "ovipositing" for the whole time I was there (nearly 2 hours). A male made a brief appearance, but unfortunately he didn't land, so no photo this time. Here are a few photos of one of the females.

Common Hawker (female)

The British Dragonfly Society has lots more  information about all these species. Here's a link.