Broad-bodied chaser

We were incredibly luck today. As usual I had taken a trip down to the pond to have a look around, but managed to miss a recently emerged dragonfly. Ian joined me and we sat on the bench. Only a minute before it took its first flight it caught Ian's eye and I managed to get a few photos before it took off. When it flew it actually hit the camera on the way past.

The dragonfly is a female broad-bodied chaser. We saw a male last year and another female earlier this year, but this is the first confirmation we've had that they're breeding at our pond. The species breeding at the pond also include the large red damselfly, common darter, golden-ringed dragonfly, southern hawker and the emperor dragonfly.

To the right of the chaser you can see the exuviae from which it emerged.





We have also had common blue damselflies and migrant hawkers in the garden, but I've yet to confirm if these are breeding at either of the ponds.