Common Hawker Dragonfly-2.jpg
I was filming for #BBCEarth #EarthOnLocation in Staffordshire, UK... Laden with tripods and heavy cases, I cautiously stepped onto the schwingmoor bog, every step creating a ripple and a squelch. I stopped and immediately my feet started to sink. Local mythology speaks of water beasts dragging people to their death, but the real reason few people are allowed here is hidden beneath a carpet of carnivorous plants, cranberries and bilberries. This is Chartley Moss, and what makes it a Shwingmoor is that you can walk on water - or more accurately on a 3 metre layer of saturated peat which floats on top of a 15 metre deep lake. Here 23 species of dragonflies have been recorded including some of the rarest in Britain. We were heading towards the centre, where the peat was at its thinnest and where two large pools puncture the spongey layer. It is here that we were most likely to find dragonflies as they climbed the plants to escape the watery underworld. I took this shot as a freshly emerged common hawker dried its wings before taking its maiden flight. #Dragonflies #Filming #BBCEarth #EarthOnLocation #UK #Wildlife #Springwatch #BBC #Nature #Spring #BDS #DragonflySociety
