Kiss of Death

Friday afternoon was quite pleasant despite a fresh northerly straight off the sea.  Thought it would be nice to have a wander around Upton Fen looking for dragonflies.  One area was particularly good, an area of cut reed on the edge of the woodland, nicely sheltered.  A newly emerged Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta), wings soft and shiny, struggled into flight.  Seconds later it’s brief life was snuffed out as a patrolling Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis) took advantage of an easy meal.

Not for the squeamish but this is nature

All this happened right at our feet!  Mrs H was not overly impressed, I was ecstatic.  The image above has created quite a stir on a dragonfly facebook group, not something that is often witnessed let alone photographed.  The Brown Hawker is a big dragon it’s body 3 inches (75mm) long, the Migrant Hawker is 2.5 inches (63mm).  The brown didn’t eat all the migrant it was soon airborne catching more ‘normal’ prey.  I think it was just taking advantage of something weaker.

The Brown Hawker with a normal catch