Hawker ID if possible - poor quality image to follow

[Deb London]

Anyone like to take a stab at this?



It's part of a picture that I want to include in the walks section. Taken at Amwell on the Dragonfly Walk this weekend. I wondered if it was a male Migrant Hawker.

I thought someone like Roy might know, but I realise it might not be identifiable.



Thanks

Deb

[Ollie]

I would say you aren't far wrong with male Migrant Hawker. Doesn't look right for a Southern and the only other one that really fits the bill and that will be on the wing at the moment is a male Migrant.

[david156]

Hi Deb,

Going by the amount of greeny yellow on the side of the thorax with a stripe through the middle, and the body colour and time of year, I would say it was a Southern Hawker but i'm no expert so I would wait for someone else to give you a definite answer.

Cheers David

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by Deb London

It's part of a picture that I want to include in the walks section. Taken at Amwell on the Dragonfly Walk this weekend. I wondered if it was a male Migrant Hawker.

I thought someone like Roy might know, but I realise it might not be identifiable.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

It is a Migrant hawker - the broad black and yellow bands on the side of the thorax are enough to separate it from Southern Hawker (and any other species is unlikely in Herts - except perhaps Southern Migrant Hawker in the near future!).

I'd be happy to recieve details of any other dragons and damsels that you saw at Amwell btw (or anywhere else in Herts).

Roy.
VC20 (Herts) Dragonfly recorder for the Herts Natural History Society & British Dragonfly Society.

[Deb London]

Thank you all very much for looking and having a stab!

Of course, I have to go with what you say Roy, because I think you have a 'way with' dragonflies. Possibly years of experience? Thank you!

I would've taken loads more pictures and recorded loads of species. I even plunged a long twig into the mud ready to snap them. Mind you, the cow pats were much more attractive, totally ignoring my improvised perch. BUT THEN MY BATTERY RAN OUT.

Lovely place and I would recommend a visit before it closes, at the end of this month.

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by Deb London

Of course, I have to go with what you say Roy, because I think you have a 'way with' dragonflies. Possibly years of experience?

A few years watching dragonflies! But then again, I could be making it all up (you sometimes have to take a chance when you ask for ID's from people that you don't know)!

Originally Posted by Deb London

Lovely place and I would recommend a visit before it closes, at the end of this month.

Yes, one of my local reserves, and good at any time of year - it's only the dragonfly walk that closes at the end of the month.


If anyone does have dragonfly records that they wish to submit 'officially' (from any part of the country), these can be submitted online or sent to the local recorder. Details here: British Dragonfly Society
The British Dragonfly Society are in the middle of field work for a new nationa dragonfly atlas at the moment so all records can be useful.

[Toby]

off there this morning, sad to hear a board walk gets closed - Thursley is open all year.

[Deb London]

I agree. In fact, that's one of my pet hates. I guess there is a reason for it though.

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by Toby

off there this morning, sad to hear a board walk gets closed - Thursley is open all year.

Originally Posted by Deb London

I agree. In fact, that's one of my pet hates. I guess there is a reason for it though.

One of the main problems that reserve managers have is getting a balance between access (to allow people the opportunity to see and learn about wildlife), and the provision of undisturbed areas for the wildlife.
Amwell, like many other areas in the Lee Valley Regional Park, attracts fairly large numbers of wintering wildfowl. Only having the boardwalk by Hollycross Lake open during the summer months (the time when the orchids and insects that could not be viewed from more distant paths are around) means that the area is undisturbed at a time when the lake is used by wintering wildfowl, and other wildlife that is trying to make it through the winter alive.

The decision to open the boardwalk at Amwell only between May and September will have been made after careful consideration of the possible consequences of disturbance (including disturbance to potential breeding species during the open period), with this weighed up against the benefit to conservation that improving the opportunity for people to get closer to the wildlife may have.

[Deb London]

They are right to do what they have to so, of course they are. The more I consider the matter, the more I realise that I belong somewhere a lot less populated.