Dramatic Scenes!

This is definitely a Shropshire based blog, but by accident I was sent a record from northern France by Steve Davenport and thought it was definitely worth sharing. Steve observed an Emperor Dragonfly Anax imperator in hot pursuit of a Southern Hawker Aeshna cyanea. Assuming this was a territorial 'send off' he was then amazed to see the Emperor attack the Southern Hawker pinning it to the ground on it's back and sinking it's jaws into the thorax- which apparently he could also clearly hear! The photos below explain all:

 

 

Though not unheard of it is fairly unusual to see such large prey being taken like this, and these are both species present in Shropshire so an interesting observation!