After the Lord Mayor's Show!

Having been gradually whipped to a peak of excitement by a flurry of e-mails from various people (including Adrian Riley and the County Recorder and BDS high up Pam Taylor) confirming the i/d of my dragonfly as a Large White Faced Darter, I've just had a message from Adrian to say that some BDS members think it could be an unusual Four-spotted with a cream-white face! So where are we? Well: I have to bow to the mandarins, but I'll tell you what: it did look totally different to the FSC that I photo'ed at the same time:

* It was noticeably smaller and slimmer
* It didn't have four prominent pterostigmata
* It had obviously plum-coloured eyes
* The frons was so pale it was visible from twenty feet away
* Its head was much smaller in relation to its body than a Four Spot. (See bottom photo!)

I just don't know what to make of it all: the county recorder and my dragonfly guru say yes, but I suppose I'll have to accept the opinions of other people who know a lot more than I do!

Large White-faced Darter

White-faced Darter

My DF

 

Four-spotted Chaser (Note head broader than thorax!)