Azure Hawker
(Aeshna caerulea)

The Azure Hawker is a relatively small aeshnid, similar in size to the Blue-Eyed and Migrant Hawkers (Aeshna affinis and A. mixta). Its thorax is essentially brown while the spots on its abdomen are a bright blue in the male and usually yellow in the female. Aeshna caerulea occurs at high latitudes (in Scandinavia and Northern Scotland) or, in Central Europe, at high altitudes (in the Alps and Dolomites). To survive in such cold conditions it has the typical habit of basking on bright and flat surfaces, by pressing its body against e.g. the bark of a birch tree. Failing that, above the tree line in the Alps its preferred perch is a sun-exposed rock (or a photographer's light-coloured trousers - see our photographs below).

Hover your mouse pointer over a thumbnail below to display a larger version of it. Or click on a thumbnail to display the photograph (at 1050 x 700 pixels) in a new window. And then, if you'd like to get even closer, you can drag the ZoomBox from the top-left corner of that window across the photograph. Note that you may have to refresh the window manually (by pressing F5 on your keyboard) for the ZoomBox to display correctly.