Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)
Photography by Chris Brooks
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The Brown Hawker
This is a late season Hawker Dragonfly - emerging in July and can be seen, usually in a tatty condition, right through to late September and even early October.
The male and female are brown in colour with brown suffused wings. There is no mistaking this very striking species.
The males have blue patches near to the base of the abdomen and the eyes have a blue suffusion. The female has all brown eyes and a thicker abdomen that tapers towards its tip.
In my opinion this is undoubtedly one of the most challenging dragonfly species to approach & capture good images of.
It seems to spend nearly all its time on the wing, very rarely settling. Even when it does it is a very difficult subject to get near enough to, to photograph in any great detail.
They settle in dense vegetation and often close to the ground which may hamper a stealthful approach. This Hawker is very easily disturbed and will readily fly off before you get near.
Occasionally a Brown Hawker will stop on an accessible perch, if so make the most of every opportunity as in my experience it is rare occurrence indeed.
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge the images)
Photographic Overview - The Brown Hawker
All of my images are taken in handheld mode without the use of any camera support and this overview is written with that in mind.
As I have previously stated the Brown Hawker can be very difficult to appraoch. Finding a perched specimen is somewhat rare in my experience. Try watching one hawking over a meadow, occasionally it will go to ground especially to eat larger prey.
When making your approach be careful as the vegetation will be very dense. Try keeping some foliage between you and the perching subject and at the last minute peer round or through it to take your image . If you manage to get close enough then taking good images is relatively easy and there are no real compostion problems.
A windy sunny day can be fruitful, especially in fallow meadows close to a body of still water, in such conditions they appear to be more readily approachable. Make the most of these rare photograhic opportunities as in my experience they do not arise very often.
If you want to know more about this species, then follow this link - To Narrative
If you want to see the best of these images, then follow this link - To Slide Show
These images were obtained by stealth and patience alone, no other non photographic techniques were used. I hope you have enjoyed browsing and that you'll return again soon.
All of these photographs were taken by and remain the property of Chris Brooks
Page Updated 11/09
Chris Brooks Photography
(www.dragonfly-images.co.uk)
