The Common Hawker, (Aeshna Juncea) Dragonfly

The Hawker Dragonfly rarely settles and can be difficult to approach but this female Hawker Dragonfly posed for us on 22^nd September 2015 in Cloonmore Kilteevan.

Information

The Common Hawker, (Aeshna Juncea) is one of the larger species of hawker dragonflies.

It is native to Palearctic (from Ireland to Japan) and northern North America. The flight period is from June to early October.

Length: 74mm (2.9 in) long with a brown body

Hawkers are the largest and fastest flying dragonflies; they catch their insect-prey mid-air and can hover or fly backwards.

The male has a black abdomen with paired blue and yellow spots on each abdominal segment, and narrow stripes along the dorsal surface of the thorax.

In the female, the abdomen is brown with yellow or sometimes green or blue spots.

The wings of both sexes display a yellow costa (the major vein running along the leading edge of the wings.

 Habitat

In moorland habitats with acidic pools, bogs. Sometimes seen hunting woodland at dusk.Males and females often fly high into the tree canopies to hunt.

Status & Distribution

Common.  Ireland, Western England, Wales, Scotland .

Thank you to David Fallon Roscommon for helping us with identification.