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…
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…
Download “Dragonflies in Devon” by Dave Smallshire
Dave Smallshire, veteran County Dragonfly Recorder for Devon, has released a guide to the county’s Dragonflies, which you can download here, or from the Devon BDS page. The publication provides…
‘Ecological vandalism’ on the River Lugg
A mile of the River Lugg, near Kingsland, has been illegal bulldozed and straightened while the surrounding trees have been cut down. The River Lugg is designated a SSSI, site…
Pesticide Pollution from Pet Flea Treatment Aquatic Invertebrates
A recent study from the University of Sussex found fipronil, a chemical mostly widely used in pet flea treatment, in 99% of a near 400000 water samples taken from 20…
Pesticides from salad crops polluting Southern Damselfly chalk streams
The Guardian has reported that a watercress plant run by Bakkavor is due to close at the end of this month after environmentalists from the Salmon & Trout Conservation Trust…
Southern Damselflies found at new sites in Pembrokeshire
A £19,000 grant from Natural Resources Wales has resulted in the enhancement of over 100 sites in Pembrokeshire. Following habitat management work, surveyors identified Southern Damselflies (Coenagrion mercuriale) at seven…
Most of England’s rivers polluted, reports EA
According to the most recent figures from the Environment Agency 86% of rivers in England are failing to meet ecological standards. While conditions have improved since the 1990s the report…
Dragonfly named after BDS County Dragonfly Recorder Bill Budd
Megalogomphus buddi: a Bornean species that breeds in fast flowing forest streams. Until recently it was treated as one and the same as Megalogomphus sumatranus; however, a recent taxonomic review by…