Dragons and damsels

After a cool, damp morning I spent the afternoon at Foulshaw chasing dragonflies and damselflies. I'm no expert on them, but I think this is a Black Darter, either an immature male or a female. Mature males are easy because they are black, but otherwise they look similar to several other darter species. The three yellow spots in the diagonal black band on the thorax should be diagnostic of the species.

A more significant sighting though was a hobby which was hawking for dragonflies over the bog. This is not a common species in Cumbria, being supposedly beyond its breeding range in England. This was my first new bird species for the year in several weeks, and takes me on to 138 for 2011.

All of my backblips from our short trip to Southampton are now on, starting here.