Norfolk Hawker
Flight period: mid May to mid August
The Norfolk Hawker is one of two brown hawker dragonflies found in the UK. It is just over 5 inches long with a brown body, green eyes and a yellow triangular mark near the top of the abdomen.
The Norfolk Hawker is a rare dragonfly in the UK and its range is almost completely restricted to the fens, grazing marshes and ditches of the Broads National Park in Norfolk and north east Suffolk although new colonies are becoming established in other areas of south east England. Since 2011 it has been recorded in the River Stour valley in east Kent where egg laying has been observed and it appears to be spreading.
The optimum conditions for breeding appear to be unspoilt grazing marsh and ditch systems with clean, non-saline water and rushy margins, preferably with an abundance of water soldier as well as other aquatic plants.
The main threats to the Norfolk Hawker are the conversion of grazing marsh to arable farming, inappropriate ditch and dyke management, nutrients enrichment, pollution and the impact of global climate change and fluctuations in water levels.
Date: 16th June 2023
Location: RSPB Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk
The Norfolk Hawker is one of two brown hawker dragonflies found in the UK. It is just over 5 inches long with a brown body, green eyes and a yellow triangular mark near the top of the abdomen.
The Norfolk Hawker is a rare dragonfly in the UK and its range is almost completely restricted to the fens, grazing marshes and ditches of the Broads National Park in Norfolk and north east Suffolk although new colonies are becoming established in other areas of south east England. Since 2011 it has been recorded in the River Stour valley in east Kent where egg laying has been observed and it appears to be spreading.
The optimum conditions for breeding appear to be unspoilt grazing marsh and ditch systems with clean, non-saline water and rushy margins, preferably with an abundance of water soldier as well as other aquatic plants.
The main threats to the Norfolk Hawker are the conversion of grazing marsh to arable farming, inappropriate ditch and dyke management, nutrients enrichment, pollution and the impact of global climate change and fluctuations in water levels.
Date: 16th June 2023
Location: RSPB Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk
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Also in: Dragonflies and damselflies
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