SPOONBILL Platalea leucorodia
Juvenile Spoonbill photographed at RSPB Saltholme, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, from the Saltholme Pools Hide on a very cold February afternoon.
SPOONBILL Platalea leucorodia
Juvenile Spoonbill photographed at RSPB Saltholme, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, from the Saltholme Pools Hide on a very cold February afternoon.
SPOONBILL Platalea leucorodia
Juvenile Spoonbill photographed at RSPB Saltholme, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, from the Saltholme Pools Hide on a very cold February afternoon.
SPOONBILL Platalea leucorodia
Juvenile Spoonbill photographed at RSPB Saltholme, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, from the Saltholme Pools Hide on a very cold February afternoon.
SPOONBILL Platalea leucorodia
Juvenile Spoonbill photographed at RSPB Saltholme, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, from the Saltholme Pools Hide on a very cold February afternoon.
Banded Demoiselle Damselfly ♀︎Calopteryx splendens
emerging from exuvia
Banded Demoiselle Damselfly ♂︎Calopteryx splendens
Four Spotted Chaser Dragonfly Libellula quadrimaculata
Southern Hawker Dragonfly (male) Aeshna cyanea
Southern Hawker Dragonfly (female) Aeshna cyanea egg laying
Southern Hawker female dragonflies lay hundreds of eggs in still water or muddy areas, in a few weeks the eggs will hatch into ferocious wingless nymphs (naiads) which initially feed on tiny aquatic prey and eventually small fish, tadpoles and mosquito larvae, before they metamorphose into winged adults.
Southern Hawker Dragonfly (male) Aeshna cyanea
Common Darter (Male) - Sympetrum striolatum
Common Darter are territorial on breeding waters, often attempting to chase much bigger dragonflies away such as Southern Hawkers. Eggs are not laid, but broadcast from the air, the male holds the female in tandem and swings her down and forward over water, at the furthest point of the arc the female releases some of her eggs to fall on the water.