Brown Hawker Dragonfly Emerging - Explored #118
Finally! Have been hoping to see this for a long time. Arrived at the Upton Fen pond about 8.00am and saw this male was starting to emerge - apparently Hawkers normally emerge at night to reduce the risk of predation and fly off at Dawn (luckily this one had a lie in). Don't think I am up to trudging through the Upton Fen swampland in the dark. Just after this shot (and whilst I was changing the battery!) he did an 'ab crunch' and grasped the emergence support and freed his abdomen - this bit only took a second or so. It was fantastic to watch as the wings were pumped with body fluids and expanded. Once fully expanded the fluid is withdrawn and pumped into the abdomen (at the point in this sequence when he spread his wings to the 'normal' position). Just before his inaugural flight the wings were vibrated in several bursts. He then zoomed off. The whole process probably took about 2 hours (but seemed like a few minutes!).
I have added a photo from last year (same location) showing a mature male Brown Hawker in all his glory. Hopefully today's specimen will be just as handsome!
Brown Hawker Dragonfly Emerging - Explored #118
Finally! Have been hoping to see this for a long time. Arrived at the Upton Fen pond about 8.00am and saw this male was starting to emerge - apparently Hawkers normally emerge at night to reduce the risk of predation and fly off at Dawn (luckily this one had a lie in). Don't think I am up to trudging through the Upton Fen swampland in the dark. Just after this shot (and whilst I was changing the battery!) he did an 'ab crunch' and grasped the emergence support and freed his abdomen - this bit only took a second or so. It was fantastic to watch as the wings were pumped with body fluids and expanded. Once fully expanded the fluid is withdrawn and pumped into the abdomen (at the point in this sequence when he spread his wings to the 'normal' position). Just before his inaugural flight the wings were vibrated in several bursts. He then zoomed off. The whole process probably took about 2 hours (but seemed like a few minutes!).
I have added a photo from last year (same location) showing a mature male Brown Hawker in all his glory. Hopefully today's specimen will be just as handsome!