State of Dragonflies 2021 report press release
More dragonflies are gaining than losing from climate change, but is this good news? The full report can be accessed here. The State of Dragonflies in Britain and Ireland 2021 report, just published online by the British Dragonfly Society (BDS), shows that dragonflies are bucking the trend of declining species in Britain and Ireland.…
NEW Garden Dragonflies Summer Video Guides
We’ve teamed up with super talented video editor and self-confessed ‘dragonfly obsessed’ Laura from the Wildlife Garden Project to make another set of video guides. Earlier in the year, we worked together to produce a guide to garden dragonflies in the spring and now we’ve followed this up with a summer version. Our video guides…
Exbury Gardens Recognised With Dragonfly Hotspot Status
Call for more garden wildlife ponds as Exbury Gardens recognised with ‘Dragonfly Hotspot’ status Exbury Gardens in the New Forest has joined an important national network of wildlife hotspots for dragonflies, and will now be encouraging visitors to attract the insects into their own back gardens. The south coast visitor attraction has been designated a…
New website for BDS Sussex Group goes live
Visiting Sussex for your staycation this year? Living in or near Sussex? The local BDS group’s new website has launched, with much improved images and info. Congratulations to Simon and the whole team. Enjoy!
Southern Damselfly habitat restoration in Pebblebed Heathlands
The East Devon Pebblebed Heaths support some of the last populations of Southern Damselfly in England. Volunteer Lesley Kerry has been monitoring these damselflies, and their habitat, in this lowland heath for many years, including a population on Colaton Raleigh Common. In the 1990s, the damselflies here bred in a shallow stream fed by a…
Dragonflies of Durham
Find out how Dragonflies are fairing across Wildlife Trust sites in Durham; Michael Coates, Durham County Dragonfly Recorder, reports on the recording effort and and results on WT nature reserves. Overall 20 species were seen, an impressive total for a northern county, with Rainton Meadows producing the most species sighted: a total of 16 over the…
Smallford Pits update: no charges from Crown Prosecution Service
Last month, staff and volunteers at the BDS were outraged to learn about the apparent deliberate poisoning of ponds at one of Hertfordshire’s top dragonfly sites: Smallford Pits (read here). This criminal act followed a previous incident in September 2020 during which the ponds were trashed with heavy machinery. Smallford Pits is a designated Local Wildlife…
County Dragonfly Recorder Reports 2020
British Dragonfly Society County Dragonfly Recorder Reports for 2020 are now available. Download them here to review the highlights of the 2020 dragonfly season in your County.
Meet Cephalozygoptera! The newly described, and sadly extinct, Odonata suborder
Researchers from Simon Fraser University, Canada, announced the classification of a new suborder of extinct Odonata after conducting an extensive review of fossil specimens and scientific papers dating back as far as 162 years. Within the historic studies they found descriptions of specimens that matched fossils collected from British Columbia and Washington State. On first…
Top Hertfordshire Dragonfly Site Criminally Destroyed
Police and the Environment Agency are currently investigating the destruction of two protected ponds at Smallford Pits Local Wildlife Site near Saint Albans. Local residents were left aghast after discovering that the ponds at their treasured wildlife hotspot had been polluted, with either diesel or petrol, in December 2020. Earlier in September, of the same…