Nature Book Reader June 2020 - Flipbook - Page 16
A Nature Book Reader
MAT BINGHAM
Mat Bingham is a naturalist first and foremost, who uses photography as a
tool to help him document the natural world
The Dragonflies and
Damselflies of Cheshire
by Richard Gabb and Dave Kitching
I have a real fondness for
this book; it takes me back
to balmy summer days
spent looking for those
ruthless winged predators,
dragonflies. Inside the
well-thumbed pages are
such exotic Odonata as
Hairy Dragonfly, Banded
Demoiselle and the glorious
Emperor Dragonfly.
This book is an
identification guide but it also
provides information on the
top Odonata sites to visit in
Cheshire. It was in the pages
of this book that the River
Weaver first came to my
attention, an idyllic location to
watch Hairy Dragonfly.
I was lucky enough
one year to take a walk
with the authors Dave
Kitching and Richard Gabb
16
on a “gomphus” hunt on
the river Dee, looking for
Club-tailed Dragonfly. After
some rummaging in in the
undergrowth we managed
to find a couple of fine
specimens basking in the
early morning sun, drying
their wings in preparation for
ascending into the lush green
tree canopy.
A really useful addition to
this book is that it contains the
flight period for each species
as this varies by latitude.
This book has all the key
ingredients you need from a
guidebook; what to see, when
to see it and where to go!
Further Reading
Dragonflies
by Philip Corbet, Stephen Brooks
