"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Sep 2013 18:55:18 +0100, "Mr Pounder"
wrote:


"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
. ..
On Wed, 11 Sep 2013 15:24:16 +0100, "Mr Pounder"
wrote:

In August 2008 I moved into my new home. It was a very hot day and I saw
something very similar to this.

http://prehistoricparkip.wikia.com/wiki/Giant_Dragonfly

It was about 10 inches long and was hovering.
It had a head something like the head of a horse, thus I always thought
incorrectly they were called Horse Flies.
I saw them many years ago in a swamp - England.

Any idea what these horrible things may have been? This is not a wind
up.

Ginandtonicus pluralis?

No thanks.

Joking apart, and assuming it wasn't a reincarnation of Meganeura from
350 million years ago, then I'm puzzled. Wiki gives a list of the
largest living insects he
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_insects

I'm no ornithologist, but my best guess (and it is only a guess) is
that it was a Merlin, the smallest of the UK resident birds of prey (a
little larger than a blackbird), which does occasionally hover, and is
known to winter on coastal marshes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_%28bird%29

Thanks for the reply, it was not a bird.
This thing was long, thin and had what looked like a pointed tail.