Aeshnidae

Aeshna – Mosaic Hawkers – Mosaic Darners (NA)

Migrant Hawker – Aeshna mixta – UK – European Dragonfly photo

The Migrant Hawker ( Aeshna mixta ) is usually seen in August and September in the UK. I clearly remember the first record in my county of Cheshire UK in August 1983.  The north-easterly expansion of its range in England was thought to be due to ‘climatic change’ even at that time. Numbers are substantially augmented through migration in the late summer months, particularly along the counties bordering the east coast. Breeding takes place in a wide range of waters including brackish but more acidic sites are avoided. It favours lakes with substantial vegetation of reeds as shown at the site below.

KEY I/D FEATURES :

Males are noticeably smaller than other Aeshnids and this is quite apparent in flight. They have a very distinctive yellow marking on the top-side of Segment 2 which is said to be T shaped but is more like a broad headed nail or tack. There are very short antehumeral stripes on both the male and the female and the long pterostigma is brown. The abdomen has blue spotting.

Females also have the distinctive yellow nail mark on Segment 2 and the abdomen is pale brown with yellow spots.