Southern Hawker

Key Sites: Brigstock Country park. This hawker is most likely to be seen in towns and gardens near breeding sites in the middle of summer, and is a frequenter of country park ponds and especially garden ponds. It breeds in small ponds with muddy surrounds, or where there is mossy wood close to the water. Dense vegetation appears to deter oviposting females. It is less common or absent from larger lakes typical of the gravel pits.

Spotting: This is a large hawker dragonfly with very distinctive and beautiful contrasting coloration. Males have a yellow thorax with paired green spots down the abdomen culminating in blue spots at the tail. In the immature phase, the lack of colouration to the spots can be confusing, however, this is hawker where the spots merge to form bands on segments 9-10 of the abdomen, and this can be a defining characteristic. There is an overall impression of a green, that stands out against

the blue of the Migrant Hawker and brown colouration of the Brown Hawker. The female is much greener than the male, and the lack of a waisted abdomen means it appears bulkier.

Never seen in large numbers, the Southern Hawker appears quite rare and may be overlooked.

County Status: Possibly declining in the Nene Valley, while maintaining populations in smaller ponds and country parks. It is thought that the increase in fishing in the gravel pits and the maturation of these pits over the last 20 years has limited the suitable habitat for oviposting females. The same timeframe has seen a large increase in Migrant Hawker populations, as this species has wider habitat requirements. It is no longer recorded at several pits shown on the distribution map below, mainly where the record point is yellow (indicating a pre-2000 record).

Garden ponds are now the prime breeding site for this species, although small fish-free ponds almost anywhere are suitable. This mirrors the situation in Bedfordshire (Cham, Dragonflies of Bedfordshire, 2004).