Day 241 - Fabulously Fantastic and Spectacularly Cracking Four Spotted Chasers

Four Spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata)

Hey everyone today's Day 241.  With this warm weather I've started to see more of one of my favourite groups of insects, dragonfly's! I see them in lots of places that I go, from Norfolk to North Yorkshire. I've covered some damselflies too, such as the Common Blue Damselfly and the Large Red Damselfly. I've also covered the Golden Ringed Dragonfly, the Southern Hawker and Broad Bodied Chaser but today I'm looking at a species that I saw for the first time this year at Saltholme - today's about the lovely Four Spotted Chaser. They are lovely little things and I am sure you like them as well.

So, here are the facts:

Nice and still for a while for its photograph

• They are usually 39mm - 48mm in length. Weirdly I read that the Green Tiger Beetle is a predator to this species even though it's quite a bit smaller, I'd like to see that and see if it's true.

• It flies from May into August and lives in Grasslands, Heathlands, Uplands and Woodlands.

• In these places are usually ponds which is where they fly around and chasing after and feeding on other insects.

• There have been sightings along the boarder between Northern and the Republic of Ireland as well as all of the rest of the UK but they aren't seen as much around the Eastern side of Scotland.

But it did zip off to this blade of grass after a while

• The Males pick a perch over-looking the water while the Females hide away from them, only going to the water when they are ready to deposit eggs.

• They are called the Four Spotted Chaser because of the spots on their four wings. They do have 2 black marks on each wing though...

• Both Males and Females are a Golden-Brown colour and it gets darker the further up the body it goes, it is outlined with yellow spots.

• They breed in Lakes. Ponds and sometimes Rivers but only slow-flowing ones.

Here are some links to some more information:

Naturespot - Four Spotted Chaser

Wikipedia - Four Spotted Chaser

The Wildlife Trusts - Four Spotted Chaser

British Dragonflies - Four Spotted Chaser

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.