Dragons

One of the best things about visiting Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Gardens are the wonderful ponds, that are so well maintained. Unlike the shambles and barren ponds of the Lions Nature Education park in Sai Kung (don't get me started.....)...

Anyway,

Here are some pictures of the Crimson tailed marsh hawk mating, and flying that I took.

To catch their prey, dragonflies create a basket with their legs. They then swoop in capturing their prey with their legs and biting it to hold it in place. They sometimes eat what they have caught while they are still flying.

In order to see predators and their food dragonflies have large compound eyes. These eyes are made up of thousands of smaller eyes and allow the dragonfly to see in all directions.

• Dragonflies don't sting and their bite is like that of a large grasshopper

• They have been around for 300 million years. Prehistoric dragonflies were much larger and could have a wingspan of 2 ½ feet.

Hong Kong has an abundance of dragonflies, with about 100 of them having stable local populations, and128 different species in total recorded since the first in 1854 (the Black-banded Gossamerwing by Baron de Selys Longchamps if you must know). That is an incredible four times the number of dragonfly species in the UK, and almost the same as the whole of Europe. We have two endemic species and Hong Kong is home to the smallest dragonfly, and the smallest damselfly, in the world. Positively identifying a particular species can be challenging, as they are often very similar at first glance, and males and females of the same species can often be completely different colours — like the crimson dropwing . There is a very good local website with a comparison of similar species https://en.hkdragonfly.com/ SEE THEM: Although the peak emergence is in spring, most dragonflies continue to emerge in lesser numbers throughout the summer, with a decline in late autumn, as the temperature begins to drop. Some species emerge in late summer, and some can even be seen on warmer winter days.