What kind of dragonfly is this?

I spotted a yellow dragonfly with orange legs, from a distance it looked very much like a large hornet but much bigger. When it settled you could tell that it was a dragonfly by looking at its wings it wasn't near the water, it was in a dry ditch with much vegatation and over hanging trees. I wonder if anyone could identify this for me, I live in the Essex area and this is the first time I have ever seen this species. It is quite fat and the outside edge of the body looked brown while the strip in the center was definetly orange/yellow