Last year when visiting Brussels, Belgium in early September, I was excited to discover dragonflies at the botanical garden in the center of the city. I headed back to the same location on Sunday right after checking into my hotel to see if I could find some dragonflies there this year.
As soon as I arrived at the small pond at the botanical garden, I was thrilled to see a number of large, colorful dragonflies flying about. Although they spent most of their time flying patrols over the water, occasionally one of the dragonflies would perch on the vegetation at water’s edge, which allowed me to capture some images of them.
I absolutely love the beautiful colors and patterns of these dragonflies, which I believe are Migrant Hawker dragonflies (Aeshna mixta). I am definitely not an expert on European dragonflies, however, and there are a number of other hawker species that are somewhat similar in appearance. In North America, there are dragonflies of this same Aeshna genus, which are usually referred to as mosaic darners, but I don’t think that this particular species can be found on the other side of the Atlantic.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Yes Migrant Hawker Mike.
Thanks for the confirmation. In one of the shots I could see the yellow shape that looks like a golf tee that I have been told is an indication of a Migrant Hawker.
You are getting me hooked on these dragonflies!
Hopefully that’s not a bad thing. Most people like butterflies and in my mind dragonflies are at least equally beautiful and even more acrobatic.I admit to being hooked on dragonflies.