Norfolk Hawkers in Shropshire
Shropshire County Dragonfly Recorder, Sue Rees Evans, has made the first sightings of Norfolk Hawker (Aeshna isoceles) in Shropshire. She recorded three in total at a private site on the Isle Estate: a male and a mating pair. This is well outside the species core range which has, until recently, been limited to the south-east…
Adopt a Site map now available
Due to a recent system overhaul by the BTO, the BDS Adopt a Site map has been down for a number of month. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. If you regularly survey a site (at least three times every year) you can now register it on the Adopt a Site map. This helps us…
Pond Ponderings – Pond Beginnings
By Sherri Eckworth A dream come true… This was very much my husband’s dream – Grahame had wanted a wildlife pond for so long and we were about to fill in a fishpond we’d inherited. So, November 2023 seemed like the right time to get ‘his’ pond underway. With a bit of help from a…
Pond Ponderings – Mass Emergence
With close to 100 dragonflies emerging from the pond this year, Les Carter in Suffolk tells us how the pond came to be! [Emerging dragonfly] We moved to our new home about fourteen years ago, and as soon as we saw the front garden we decided to create a wildlife garden with the primary features…
Meet the new BDS Scotland Conservation Officer
Jennifer Davidson has joined the BDS as a new full time BDS Scotland Conservation Officer and will be taking over from Andrea Hudspeth who will sadly be leaving us shortly. Jen introduces herself. . . “I have enjoyed over 20 years working in conservation, mainly as a Countryside Ranger in Fife, Tayside and Stirlingshire areas.…
Dragonfly volunteers needed at RSPB Conwy!
This year RSPB Conwy is being designated a Dragonfly Hotspot! We will be launching RSPB Conwy as a Dragonfly Hotspot on Saturday 13 July- join us for a day of guided walks, craft activities and pond dipping. Work is underway to create more dragonfly habitat on site and experienced volunteers are needed to monitor resident…
Calling on you MP to support a ban on urban pesticides
The dangers that pesticides pose to both human health and the environment are well known. The commonly used pesticide glyphosate is not only harmful to dragonflies and other insects, but larger animals too, including birds and amphibians. Research is also increasingly linking the chemical to Parkinson’s. Following a campaign by the Pesticide Collaboration, Caroline Lucas…
Willow Emerald Watch 2023 update
The BDS has been tracking the range expansion of Willow Emerald Damselfly since it colonised England in 2009. Learn more on the Willow Emerald Watch Project page. Project lead, Adrian Parr, provides an update from the 2023 recording season. . . Willow Emeralds had another relatively good season in 2023, and it was pleasing to…
BDS joins The Pesticide Collaboration
The area of land treated by pesticides has increased by 63% since 1990 and the evidence of the harm caused by pesticides to human health and the natural world is also increasing. The BDS has joined The Pesticide Collaboration- a partnership of 81 organisations, farmers and academics. Together we will work to in influencing UK…
Triangle of Confusion by John Curd
My title stems from two documented concepts. In photography, the circle of confusion is used to determine the depth of field, that part of an image which is acceptably sharp. In linguistics, the triangle of meaning is a model of how linguistic symbols relate to the objects they represent. Both triangle and confusion seem particularly…