Dragon days

Today was bookended by a pair of dragonflies, both of which I'm posting because this year's dragon days will soon be coming to an end, and I'm already sadly anticipating the five or six dragon-free months that will follow.

It was dark and overcast in Stratford this morning, but fairly warm, and there were several male Migrant Hawkers hunting around Lucy's Mill Bridge. This one has already suffered quite significant damage to two of his wings, but it didn't seem to be reducing his aerial ability. R was shopping while I was communing with the dragons, and we then met up for coffee and cake. After this I went to Waterstones, where I found an excellent book for small children about the human body - so that in future when the Boy Wonder asks "What's inside my face?" or "What is poo?" we'll have a visual aid to use to reinforce our explanations.

Shortly after we arrived home the weather turned sunny. At the time I was doing battle with a new (enormous, wheeled) camera case that had just been delivered, and by the time I'd configured its compartments to my reasonable satisfaction, the temperature had soared and the whole garden was seething with insects. Among them were two Common Darters: a mature female, who was using one of the arms of the garden bench as a perch from which to survey the top garden for males, threats and flying food, and the young male in my second photo, who was perching on the aucuba and clearly feeling the heat. 

I've been very interested recently in Sheol's account of the regular, though on the face of it late, emergence of Common Darters from his pond, and it's clear that this young male is also extremely fresh, so late emergence must be going on here too. Whether or not this extends the dragon season in the Shire will obviously depend on the weather, but Common Darters can survive and hunt in lower temperatures than most other British species, and in mild years they may be seen as late as November, so the signs are at least hopeful.