Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)
An easy one to see, but a hard one to photograph. Where other hawkers tend to land at the front of vegetation, these seem to rest deeper in the hedgerow, so it is much harder to get a clear, clean shot.
A brown dragonfly with yellow and blue markings and yellow/brown wings.
Males have an obvious waist line near the beginning of the abdomen.
Females don't have this waist and are much wider near the beginning of the abdomen.
The only other brown hawker in the UK is the Green-eyed/Norfolk Hawker. These are beginning to come into Somerset, but currently very rare. They don't have brown wings and have very green eyes, so it tends to be easy to tell them apart.
Male
Male
Male
Male
Male
Female
Female
Female
Want to See
Common in Somerset, but more in the lowlands where there is slow moving water with vegetation.
So more prominent on the Somerset Levels.
Especially Good
RSBP Swell Wood / West Sedgemoor (End of June / July)
RSPB Greylake (End of June / July)
RSPB Ham Wall - Route 2 (End of June / July)
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