Lovely photograph of dragonfly

How lovely to see the photograph of Ted Prangnell’s migrant hawker dragonfly in the paper.

It is true that, in their rather ugly larval stage, these creatures can exist in ponds for up to a year or more.

After emerging as beautiful dragonflies, mating, and laying eggs however, none in this country can survive for more than a few months.

Migrant hawkers sound as if they have come in from abroad, but have been resident in this country for many years.

From my daily records of our ponds for 2013, the first migrant hawker appeared on July 31, and my last sighting for this species was November 4 – a total of 96 days. It is highly likely that these two sightings were of different individuals.

In comparison, the longest-lived species here was the white legged damselfly, which first emerged on May 22 and was last seen on September 16 – a total of 117 days. Again, these were almost certainly not the same individual.

Neither species was the first or last to appear or disappear here during 2013. The first was the large red damselfly on May 1 and the last the common darter on November 15.

Timings will change slightly from pond to pond and year to year depending on weather conditions.

This year the large red damselfly emerged on April 9 (22 days earlier), while the migrant hawker appeared on July 21 (10 days earlier). We have yet to see whether the 2014 dragonflies last a longer or shorter time than those of 2013. Terry Dove, Bethersden

Your article in the Kentish Express edition of August 23 had a marvellous photo of a dragonfly but without a name! It was a “common hawker” (Aeshna juncea) so called because its found throughout the British Isles. Donald Palmer, Brabourne Lees