I Encounter a Golden-Ringed Dragonfly in my Orchard, 24 June 2025

In 2024, I didn’t see any dragonflies in my orchard or yard until 15 July, exactly two months after I saw the first damselfly on 15 May, and the first one I saw was a golden-ringed dragonfly resting on some salvias near my back door. This year, the first dragonfly I’ve seen properly in the orchard (I did briefly see what I think was a common darter about ten days ago, though didn’t get a pic; just had an impression of fastness, largeness, and redness as it zoomed away) is also a golden-ringed one, exactly three weeks earlier than last year, on 24 June. The damselflies were also earlier this year: I saw the first one in my yard on 20 April and the first one in my orchard on 29 April, so, like last year, the dragonflies are arriving two months after the damselflies. And my oh my, what an absolute stunner the dragonfly yesterday was. It was simply amazing to see her.

At about 3.15pm yesterday, during a rather pleasant, dry and warm afternoon, I went out into the orchard to have a wander around and spotted some damselflies, butterflies and bee-mimicking hoverflies that I was happily taking photos of, when suddenly…this magnificent creature flew past me and settled on an old stalk of a yucca plant. I gasped out loud.

I’m pretty sure she’s a female and that the black appendage at the end of her body is her ovipositor; here’s a close up. Female golden-ringed dragonflies are the longest dragonflies in the UK.

When she first landed, she was munching on her lunch, which looked like a rather nice potter wasp I'd taken a photo of earlier, oh dear. Dragonflies are voracious predators, and large dragonflies like the golden-ringed ones will even catch and eat smaller dragonflies. After consuming the unfortunate wasp, she rested on the yucca stalk for a good ten minutes or so. I’m thrilled, as I deliberately didn’t cut down that dead stalk because it was a popular perching place for dragonflies last year, and that’s proved to be an excellent decision! Here’s the stalk, with a newly flowering one next to it.

Here are two pics of me putting my hand next to her to give an idea of her size. In the flesh, she appeared absolutely huge.

Some more pics:

After a few minutes, I actually dared to touch her wings, ever so lightly and gently, and she didn’t move or flinch at all. I HAVE TOUCHED A DRAGONFLY’S WINGS!!!!

A couple of minutes later, she suddenly took off, and as is almost always the case with dragonflies, she was so fast that I immediately lost sight of her and have no idea which direction she flew in.

I’m not joking or exaggerating when I say that this encounter left me shaking and my knees trembling. It was an astonishing, amazing experience. I sincerely hope that I see lots more dragonflies in my orchard and yard over the coming months, but one way or the other, this remarkable creature well and truly made my week. Heck, she made my entire summer.