Some weeks ago I was by this pond having fun taking photos of each other with my friend. There was this moorland hawker dragonfly among others. A male came and swooped this one quite violently and was mating with her as she was under water and seeming trying to get away seemed like he was drowning her. When he left she was stuck in the water drowning as her wings were drenched. We took her out of the water and placed her on the pier. She just sat there recuperating.
About 10 min after another male or same came doing the same thing. I once again placed her back on the pier. Her wings looked damaged and she did not seem well at all. Another male came so I put my hand in front blocking him. After a little bit I placed my hand out and she climbed on on her own. I put my other hand over to hide her from males and I took her a little bit away from the pier so she can rest and dry. My friend left and well I was supposed to be doing things but I sat with the dragonfly. She walked up to right before my elbow and sat “cleaning her face” and sometimes gently moving her body. After about 15 minutes she walked up to my shoulder and sat there. My mind was a bit, “ok we have to go” but I felt I would sit there for as long as she needed to sit there. There was no question about it.
At one point this old woman walked by with her dog on the other side of the fence. Now I was lying down in a very awkward position on the ground and of course from that distance she could not see the dragonfly and she was looking at me as if I am a mad person….that was so funny lol. I said hello and she just gave me you are crazy look.
I kept telling the dragonfly “you can do it!” after about ten minutes I was very happy to see that she was able to fly away. 
I read about them and apparently the females of this species have evolved to faking their death to protect against aggressive males coming to mate with them as many times they risk injury and death.
I have often have dragonflies come to me in distress trapped somewhere or something like that and generally they have played an important role in my life…
Grateful for the gift of those moments… 💚💚💚🌳🌸🦋
For the images go to:
