In the garden early evening, I could see that a recently emerged Southern Hawker seemed to be fluttering/clambering around one of the pond plants. It was very near the water so fearing it would get waterlogged wings I leaned over and picked it off the stem and placed it on a more suitable reed stem. It was then I noticed that it had deformed wings. The right hind wing was missing and the left hind was sticking to the left forewing. I finally managed to free the two left wings but I do not hold out much hope for the Dragonfly. It was however, a good opportunity to have the insect in the hand and take some close ups.
The Southern Hawker is a garden regular and I usually see around a dozen Exuviae annually. These are the discarded larval stage cases shown in the last picture. The Larvae themselves can be seen in the garden pond for a couple of years before emergence takes place.
Out of interest all these pictures were taken on my wife’s Canon A470. Purchased on Sunday for the princely sum of £50 from Argos. Rather pleased with the resultant images. Just proves you do not need to spend vast amounts to obtain half decent pictures. 1 2 3 4 5
Steve Copsey | 
