Pond Hawker

With Autumn firmly on its way I headed to Witney & Milford Commons for a walk and to see how the fungii, for which the commons are renown, are coming on.  

I took the waymarked 3-mile Heathland trail, and thoroughly enjoyed the walk, but apart from Earthballs which were aplenty I saw very few mushrooms or toadstools and even less were photo-worthy. However,  on the way back I came across a rather muddy and murky woodland pond, and was delighted to spot a large dragonfly flitting around. 

I only had the 60mm macro lens attached, but this creature sometimes stopped and hovered just in front of me so I upped the shutter speed and ISO, set the camera to high-speed and settled down to try my luck.  This shot was by far the clearest, and using the new "Enhanced" feature in Lightroom, which can double the resolution, I was able to crop in quite tight.

I had hoped thought it maybe an Emperor, but I think it is a Southern Hawker which likes woodland and small ponds, and is still on the wing in September.  It is also my best (only?) shot of a dragonfly on the wing acheived this yea, so I am well pleased!