Devon Wildlife Trust The Southern hawker is a large hawker dragonfly that is on the wing from the end of June through to October. A common dragonfly of ponds, lakes and canals in the lowlands, particularly near to woodland, it can be seen patrolling a regular patch of water when hunting, or often 'hawking' through woodland rides. Hawkers are the largest and fastest flying dragonflies; they catch their insect-prey mid-air and can hover or fly backwards.
How to identify
The Southern hawker is mostly black in colour. The male has lime green spots all along the body, pale blue bands on the last three segments of the abdomen, blue-green eyes, and large green patches on the thorax. The female is paler, with pale green spots and brownish eyes. The black-and-blue hawkers are a tricky group of dragonflies to identify. The Southern hawker can be recognised by its lime green, rather than blue, spots and the large pale patches on its thorax.
https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/dragonflies/southern-hawker
British Dragonfly Society Prefers non acidic waters. Breeds in water line vegetation in well-vegetated, small ponds, often in garden ponds. Hunts well away from water and may be found hawking woodland rides well into the evening.
https://british-dragonflies.org.uk/species/southern-hawker/
Female Southern Hawker in our garden pond, Chulmleigh, photo by Grant Sherman 23th September 2020
Devonshire Association Entomology Section The Entomology Section promotes the study and recording of insects and also spiders in the county.
Meetings, talks, exhibitions, publications and field trips are arranged annually across the county of Devon and are suitable for beginners and experienced alike. Field trips are usually held in association with other specialist groups with whom we maintain close links. We also meet with other sections to demonstrate, and learn, about the inter-relationships with other disciplines.
With at least ten specialists in different Orders within the insect class we cater for a wide range of interests. Some of our Recorders are national experts in their field and hence we are the major collective source of entomological expertise in the county.
https://devonassoc.org.uk/organisation/sections/entomology-section/
Devon Biodiversity Record Centre Submit your sightings of Southern Hawkers and other species in Devon
https://www.dbrc.org.uk/wildlife-sightings/
British Naturalist's Association Dragonflies and damselflies are both members of the order Odonata. Thre have been 57 species recorded in Britain, made up of 17 damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) and 25 dragonflies (suborder Anisoptera). Of these, 42 species (17 damselflies and 25 dragonflies) are resident breeders, and the remainder are either now extinct species, or vagrants. In addition two species, Southern Skimmer Orthetrum brunneum and Southern Darter Sympetrum meridionale have been recorded in the Channel Islands.
https://bna-naturalists.org/id-guide-dragon-and-damselflies/
Buglife is the only organisation in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates. We’re actively working to save Britain’s rarest little animals, everything from bees to beetles, worms to woodlice and jumping spiders to jellyfish.
National Biodiveristy Network The NBN Atlas is a collaborative project that aggregates biodiversity data from multiple sources and makes it available and usable online. It is the UK’s largest collection of freely available biodiversity data.
https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NBNSYS0000005626
Wikipedia The species is one of the most common and most widespread dragonflies in Europe. The total range is West Palearctic and covers a large part of Europe (to Scotland and southern Scandinavia in the North to Italy (without the Southwest) and the northern Balkans to the South); the Eastern boundary is formed by the Ural and the West by Ireland. It is also found in Northwest Africa (Algeria). In Central Europe the species is very common.