Welcome to my first update of the second half of the 2020s.

 

The Monmouthshire Dragonfly Atlas project: the halfway point

Incredibly, we’re already at the half way point of the ten-year project to produce the county’s first dragonfly atlas. Thank you to everyone who’s contributed records so far. All records received by 31 December are now in the end-of-year system for getting data online at the National Biodiversity Network and British Dragonfly Society websites, which will have completed in time for the next one of these newsletters. From seeing records come in all through the year, I am already able to say that we have the most comprehensive set of dragonfly data that has ever existed for the county, which is a fantastic achievement for our community of dragonfly recorders. Thank you all for your efforts.

There’s a but (of course!) … which is that we still have some big areas that remain stubbornly devoid of any dragonfly records. How I’m hoping we can close that gap is the focus of the rest of this newsletter.

 

Completing the jigsaw in 2025 and beyond

Anyone who’s done a jigsaw puzzle will know that there are some pieces that get placed first – the corner and edge pieces, for example – and others that get left to the end. Producing a set of atlas maps is a very similar process: records flood in from the most popular sites, and those in well-populated districts, and then there are other areas that remain unrecorded well into the atlas period. So it’s no surprise that our local dragonfly atlas project is in exactly this position.

Here’s a map (based on a cut of data that I took at the end of August, so almost up-to-date) of the records collected since the atlas project started in 2020. Squares with the most records (e.g. Newport Wetlands and the River Wye near Monmouth) are shown in the darkest colours; those with no records at all are shown in white. On the map, I’ve divided the county into two equally-sized halves, using a red boundary to show how uneven the recording effort to date has been. Of the nearly 10,000 records received since 2000, almost 93% are from the area outside of the red boundary. Recording inside of the red boundary – half of the county – has generated just 7% of those 10,000 records. In one extensive part of this area, between the Skirrid, Raglan Castle and the Monnow Brook, we have almost no records at all!

Inside the red boundary are many areas that are likely to be productive places to search for dragonflies, for example:

• a long stretch of the River Usk, running from Abergavenny to Newport
• the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal from Pontypool northwards
• the Monnow and Trothy rivers
• the Black Mountains
• many streams that run off of the Trellech Ridge, and
• more than 500 ponds and lakes scattered throughout the countryside

We have well over 200 people on our mailing list now. If just a quarter of you were able to make a single visit each in 2025 to just one site inside the red boundary, this map would be transformed by this time next year.

So … that’s the challenge I’m setting us. Read on for one initiative that I’m hoping will help us to meet it.

 

Welcome to three new project volunteers

I put out an appeal for volunteers to help me with running the atlas project at the end of last year and was really pleased that as a result of this, the project has gained three new volunteers: Tom Freeth, Roger Vercoe and Eric Ivanov.

Eric, Roger and Tom’s main task will be to help co-ordinate recording efforts in the under-recorded parts of the county. Over this spring, one of them will make contact with you to ask if you’d be able to help. The first thing to say is don’t feel you can’t say no, for whatever reason. We won’t be offended and it’s much better to know that this is the case than to pressure anyone into helping if they can’t.

For those of you who would be interested in helping, we’d like to find out which parts of the county you’d be willing to visit, and if there is anything that we can do to help make that easier for you. You might, for example, know of a good pond which is not close to a public footpath – we’d be more than happy to approach the landowner, if we can find out who they are, to get permission for you to visit. Or you might feel like you need some refresher training to give you a little more confidence in identification. If so, that can be arranged. There is also the possibility of reimbursing recorders for transport costs if this would be a deciding factor for you.

One of the volunteers will be in touch (via email first) over the next few weeks, ready to get you up and running for the start of the dragonfly flight season in May.

 

What else is coming up this year?

If everything goes to plan, quite a lot.

• Updated atlas maps will be uploaded to the British Dragonfly Society website in a few weeks (they’re taking a little longer this year due to factors out of my control, but we’re working on a process to make this faster in future years).
• The first version of the Monmouthshire Ponds and Lakes inventory will be available. I have now set up a separate mailing list for this project, so if you’re particularly interested, let me know and I’ll add you to it.
• A publication on the dragonflies of the Gwent Levels is in preparation: there will be more information on this in the next newsletter.
• I’m meeting with the Living Levels programme team soon to talk about how they’re planning to build on the work they’ve done so far, and how the British Dragonfly Society and our recording community can be involved in that. Longer-term funding has been secured from the Welsh Government for the programme, which everyone involved is hoping can enable the programme to deliver meaningful conservation action at a landscape scale on the Gwent Levels. I’ll keep you updated as I have more information.
• Half-day dragonfly identification training sessions. I gave one of these to a dozen or so volunteers at the RSPB Newport Wetlands visitor centre last year, and intend to run at least one more this year. If you are interested, please get in touch.
• Further targeted surveys for the Common Clubtail (Gomphus vulgatissimus) and other riverine species on the Wye, Monnow and Usk.
• Articles in upcoming newsletters on the status of Variable Damselfly (Coenagrion pulchellum) in the county and predictions for the next new species to be added to the county list.

 

Contributing your records

I’m happy to receive your records via any method which suits you: it’s better to receive a record than not to receive it. The iRecord system is my preferred method. If you’d like to use iRecord, please go to irecord.org.uk and create an account. I’m more than happy to show you how to use it over a video conference, or in person if you live somewhere within easy reach.

Steve Preddy, Monmouthshire County Dragonfly Recorder, British Dragonfly Society

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