{"id":67626,"date":"2026-06-21T19:28:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T19:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/67626\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T19:28:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T19:28:24","slug":"a-golden-ringed-jewel-britains-longest-dragonfly-hitches-ride-on-womans-thumb-look-and-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/67626\/","title":{"rendered":"A Golden-Ringed Jewel: Britain\u2019s Longest Dragonfly Hitches Ride on Woman\u2019s Thumb (LOOK and LEARN)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Golden-Ringed Dragonfly by Sarah Hawkes via SWNS<\/p>\n

A woman was stunned when Britain\u2019s longest dragonfly stopped to hitch a ride\u2014on her thumb.<\/p>\n

Sarah Hawkes came across the striking Golden-Ringed Dragonfly when walking near the Ceiriog River in Wales.<\/p>\n

The insects can grow up to 4 inches (9cm) with a wingspan just as long.<\/p>\n

Sarah, who happens to be a conservation officer of Buglife Wales<\/a>, called the spectacular sighting a \u201cgorgeous girl\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are found mainly in Wales, Scotland and North West England because that is where their special habitat is found.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey breed in the more acidic rivers and streams coming off peat and crossing sandy soils and rock types.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was walking near the Ceiriog River in Wales, which tumbles down from the Berwyn Hills, and saw her clinging to a grass stem by a hedgerow.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dog and I go out early, so it was cool, and insects rely heavily on external heating from the sun, so she was still a bit lethargic\u2014like me when I wake up!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Sarah Hawkes via SWNS
\n\"\"Golden-Ringed Dragonfly by Sarah Hawkes via SWNS<\/p>\n

WHAT A MOMENT: Magical Footage Shows Stag Strolling up to Lick a Man\u2019s Camera Then Calmly Walking Away \u2013 WATCH<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dee River Catchment, which the Ceiriog is part of, is in one of Britain\u2019s \u2018Important Insect Areas\u2019 where there are some really special insects.\u201d<\/p>\n

The golden-ringed dragonfly can be seen on the wing from May to September, explained North Wales Wildlife Trust.<\/p>\n

Despite their dainty wings, the dragonflies are voracious predators, feeding on large insects, like wasps, beetles, and bumblebees\u2014and even other dragonflies.<\/p>\n

They are fast, agile and powerful flyers, too. And even their larvae nymph-phase is menacing to other creatures.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dragonfly nymph on steam bed by Greg Schechter CC BY 2.0<\/a> via Wikimedia<\/p>\n

\u201cThe larvae of the golden-ringed dragonfly live buried at the bottom of streams, ambushing prey as it passes by.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey grow very slowly and may spend as long as five years in the water before they emerge to turn into a dragonfly.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE NATURE FUN:
\u2022 Bird Snuggles into Photographer\u2019s Chest And Stayed With Her for Warmth on a Snowy Day (LOOK)<\/a>
\u2022 Comedy Wildlife Contest Unveils Wonderful Photos to Make Everyone Smile<\/a><\/p>\n

EDUCATE AND DELIGHT Your Nature-Loving Friends By Sharing This on Social Media\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Golden-Ringed Dragonfly by Sarah Hawkes via SWNS A woman was stunned when Britain\u2019s longest dragonfly stopped to hitch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[3434,13,776,16405,4946,6767,5],"class_list":["post-67626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-animals","tag-britain","tag-fun","tag-insects","tag-nature","tag-photography","tag-uk"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116789753084423144","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}