Clap your hands

A male common hawker dragonfly at Kemp Tarn, near Staveley, Cumbria.

He had something to celebrate, discreetly out of shot is a female, and the two are clasped together in the so-called wheel position of coitus. Had it not been for this vital act taking place, I would never have got close enough to take the photograph. This is a restless species, the males always actively patrolling, rarely landing and not approachable. The blue and yellow on the abdomen, together with the yellow leading edge to the wing identify this hawker. Don't let me give you the impression I have any expertise with dragonflies, I am simply working them out one by one as I get close enough to see and photograph them.

The complexity, precision and perfection of insects is a constant source of amazement. The dragonflies have the most complex eyes of all, and they need them for rapid flight hunting smaller insects. They reached perfection early on in insect evolution, as a group they are almost unchanged in over 200 million years, they hit on a successful formula early while so many other animal groups have come and gone through deep time.

It was a day to celebrate at work too, a feel good day when a lot of work over two years by a couple of my close colleagues ended in a result that was better than we could possibly have hoped for. And meanwhile, I was involved in a field meeting that included a trip to this tarn set in unimproved grassland amidst low fells above Staveley, the weather was kind and, amongst other things, we found two mating pairs of these magnificent dragonflies.