Hi. This species, the Migrant Hawker, is relatively quite easy to get in flight (see the Dragonflies Communal thread). Catching them in flight is so much more rewarding than when they have landed. Set your camera to manual mode, tv ~ 1/1250, ~f5.6 ish and AUTO ISO. This will ensure you have a consistent shutter speed and aperture. Obviously AF servo and continuous sheeting on the drive. Now with the camera set up sit and watch their behaviour. Migrant Hawkers intersperse their flight with bouts of hovering sometimes for seconds at a time, so watch what they do and where they hover. They are territorial so will patrol the same spot over and over looking for females. Pre-focus on a reed at roughly the same distance as the dragonfly so that your camera has less work to do to achieve focus and then wait. I fond that a lens around 300mm is perfect (on an APS-C camera). You will get loads of oof shots as you practice, but when they hit you'll be very happy. These hawkers will be around until late Oct but they are at their most abundant now so make the most of this good spell of weather. Don't forget to post your shot here. Good luck.
