Anax imperator – Jill Orme Photography

21 Jul 2025

Mum and Dad

by JDO | posted in: Dragonflies, Invertebrates, Odonata, Worcestershire | 0

I walked round to the old village pond this morning, to see if anyone was about – meaning dragons, of course – and immediately spotted this male Emperor on patrol. He was behaving a little strangely though – pausing and … Continued

18 Jul 2025

His Maj

by JDO | posted in: Dragonflies, Invertebrates, Odonata, Worcestershire | 0

I lost an hour of my life this morning, trying and failing to upload some Odonata sightings to iRecord. The site has always been buggy – not really surprisingly, because as an academic project with no commercial spinoff value, I’d … Continued

16 Aug 2023

Vagrant

by JDO | posted in: Damselflies, Dragonflies, Invertebrates, Odonata, Wiltshire | 0

My back, which has been niggling me for about a fortnight now, was so bad when I woke up this morning that it took me nearly an hour to get myself upright, and even then it needed heavy strapping before … Continued

16 Jun 2023

Clot

by JDO | posted in: Damselflies, Dragonflies, Invertebrates, My garden, Odonata, Warwickshire, Worcestershire | 0

The synchronised emergence of Large Red Damselflies from our ponds that conspicuously didn’t happen six weeks ago when we were hoping and looking for it, seems to be happening now. Today we had four emerge from the wildlife pond, and … Continued

24 May 2023

Empress

by JDO | posted in: Dragonflies, Invertebrates, Odonata, Wiltshire | 0

Voting for the coveted Dragon of the Day award resolved down to a nail-biting head-to-head between this teneral female Emperor, and a male Four-spotted Chaser whom I photographed mid-emergence. In the end the Emperor (Empress?) won because I’ve never seen … Continued

27 May 2020

Emperor

by JDO | posted in: Damselflies, Dragonflies, Invertebrates, My garden, Odonata, Warwickshire, Worcestershire | 0

Firstly, I’d like to say a huge thank you for your lovely response to my 6-year milestone yesterday. I’m very grateful for your lovely comments, and touched by your generosity in sending my post to the top line of pops. … Continued

26 Aug 2019

Blue

by JDO | posted in: Dragonflies, Gloucestershire, Invertebrates, Odonata | 0

A quiet Bank Holiday Monday in the garden was out of the question, owing to some work the neighbours are currently doing, but it was too nice to be indoors, so I talked R into coming to Rodborough Bank with … Continued

19 Aug 2019

Dogged

by JDO | posted in: Dragonflies, Invertebrates, Odonata, Warwickshire | 0

They’ll be charging me rent at Grove Hill soon, if I’m not careful. This morning I thought Four visits in four days really would feel like the beginning of a habit – I’ll go somewhere else today…. but the morning … Continued

17 Aug 2019

Empress

by JDO | posted in: Dragonflies, Invertebrates, Odonata, Warwickshire | 0

It was unexpectedly warm and bright today, which (of course) made me think about dragons, so I zoomed back over to Grove Hill to check out the ponds there, and had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. Reinforcing my suspicion that Odonata … Continued

16 Jul 2019

Wounded

by JDO | posted in: Dragonflies, Gloucestershire, Invertebrates, Odonata, Wiltshire | 0

Emperors are Britain’s largest dragonflies, with an abdominal length of 5 to 6 cm, and the males are highly territorial and aggressive. They don’t just fight each other: they will attack other dragonflies too, and are capable of eating smaller … Continued