Aeshna isosceles
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Norfolk Hawker Male -
Norfolk Hawker Female -
Norfolk Hawker - Close up of head and thorax -
Norfolk Hawker exuvia (male, top view)
Click on images to enlarge
Description
Length: 67mm
The Norfolk Hawker is one of 2 brown hawker dragonflies found in Britain. It has clear untinted wings, green eyes and a yellow triangular mark on the second abdominal segment.
Management Fact File
Habitat
The optimum conditions for breeding appear to be unspoilt grazing marsh dyke systems with clean, non-saline water, rushy margins, preferably with an abundance of water soldier as well as other aquatic plants.
Status & Distribution
The Norfolk Hawker is currently restricted to the fens and grazing marshes that are relatively isolated from polluted water in the Broadlands of Norfolk and Northeast Suffolk. A Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP) for the Norfolk Hawker has been drafted for Norfolk. This is a red data book species protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
Similar species
Similar in colour to Brown Hawker but the clear wings, green eyes and very restricted habitat help identification.
Threats
The main threats to this species come from the conversion of grazing marsh to arable farming, inappropriate ditch management, nutrient enrichment, pollution, the impact of global climate change and fluctuations in water levels.
Management
General management principles include maintaining grazing marshes, controlling saline intrusion, controlling nutrient enrichment. There are also best practice guidelines for managing inhabited sites, particularly the dyke vegetation and the surrounding terrestrial habitats.
Case Study
Work is underway to restore habitats for this species in Norfolk.