Dragonfly!

... or if not a dragonfly, a close "friend or relation" (such as a mayfly or damselfly). But I think it's a dragon, because it is resting with its wings open, and the fore wings are much narrower than the hind wings (Anisoptera). I think the veins in the wings are wonderful: the arrangement is corrugated to provide strength and lift.

We were basking for a few minutes in the sun on a bench in Stratfield Brake. We were on our way to the canal, when this creature hovered by us and then landed on the bench. It kept taking off and returning, and it obviously liked the warmth of the sunlit wood. Here is an overhead view of the dragon on one of its landings.

Dragonflies and the like are remarkable, but primitive, freshwater insects. I gleaned what follows from an article by Steve Brooks of the Natural History Museum. A dragonfly senses the world through its eyes. The two huge eyes have very good colour vision and are sensitive to movement in order to detect prey, potential mates and rivals. Dragonflies additionally have three simple eyes (ocelli) positioned on the top of the head which are connected directly by nerves to the wing muscles. They detect the position of the horizon, so a dragonfly can continually adjust its orientation while in flight. The wings beat and twist independently of each other in a figure-of-eight motion, which makes dragonflies very aerobatic. Dragonflies can fly forwards, backwards, sideways, and can hover. Hovering enables them to hold their heads still and spot mates and small insect prey more easily.

And we think that we are clever with computer-stabilised helicopters! On the other hand, our insect won't "spot mates" if it spends all its time enjoying the sun.

Well, since we had a very nice walk subsequently along the canal, I had better add some new canal bridge photographs. We start today's batch with Bridge #230, and then follow that with the small lift Bridge #231. The bridge you can see just beyond appears to be abandoned, and doesn't seem to have a number. This is the view looking back through it with Bridge #231 beyond. Finally, for today, here is the curved Bridge #232, with a nice round tunnel.