Dragonflies inhabit every continent except Antartica. They vary in size with wingspans between 180mm (Megaloprepus coerulatus - Forest Giant Damselfly of Central America) and 20mm or thereabouts and yet they all hunt, reproduce and live similar life styles.

There have been many authoritative books written about these insect which accurately record their beauty, life-cycle and relative abundance. Non however, can truely reflect the pleasure of watching these insects in their natural habitat. Sadly for me at least, the UK only provides home for leass than 100th of the estimated 5300+ species in the world.

They are formidable hunters, seeking their prey at all times of the day. The Crepuscular Hawker hunts after dark feeding on smaller insects unfortunate to find themselves in its path. There are others in Japan and Australia that show this same trait.

Some species migrate and here there appear to be two groups defined very simply by the experts into major and minor migrants. One species alone is know for its habit of migrating, Pantala flavescans or the Globe Skimmer. It has evolved into a specie well adapted to staying on the wing adn has been sighted in "swarms" over the oceans perhaps giving rise to the perception that it is migratory.  By contrast, local migrations of species my take place perhaps stimulated by sychronised emergence forcing the newly emerged insects to seek food elsewhere.  These insects though are very light and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that high winds or unique (local) climatic conditions can give rise to the perception of migration taking place.