New Vacancy: Scotland Conservation Officer

British Dragonfly Society Scotland Conservation Officer Reporting to: Development and Operations Manager and Trustees of BDS Responsible for: Managing BDS conservation work in Scotland including managing volunteers and contractors Hours: Full-time (37.5 hours). Permanent contract. Salary band: £28,000-£32,000 (It is our policy to recruit at the beginning of the salary band) Location: Scotland – the…

Donate your spare exuviae

Have you got a stash of spare exuviae? Please consider donating them to the BDS! They are a vital resource we need to teach the life cycle and larvae/exuviae identification. Please post them to: British Dragonfly Society c/o Natural England Parkside Court Hall Park Way TELFORD, TF3 4LR   Thank you!   Image by Bruce…

Buglife completes Important Invertebrate Areas Map for Wales

Wales has become the first country in the world with a map of its most important areas for insects and other invertebrates – a vital source of information to help guide nature recovery in Wales. The network of 17 Important Invertebrate Areas (IIAs) cover 1,344km2 of Wales and are home to nationally or internationally significant…

Read the White-legged Damselfly Investigation final report

The final report on the White-legged Damselfly Investigation citizen science project is now available to download here. From 2018 to 2022 over 700 volunteers assisted the BDS in mapping the distribution of the White-legged Damselfly (Platycnemis pennipes) across England and Wales with the aim of assessing changes in the species’ occupancy (geographic area within which…

BDS Photo Calendar 2024 – get yours now!

We asked you to help us celebrate our 40th birthday with a Dragonfly photo competition. Our winner is Steve Hewitt’s White-legged Damselfly as chosen by Mike Dilger, a further top 11 photos were chosen by the BDS team which accompany the winner in our 2024 calendar. This wall calendar is A4 (opens to A3). Each…

Collect our new pin badges

The BDS shop now offers four bright and beautiful pin badges for sale at £2.50 each: Emperor, Four-spotted Chaser, Broad-bodied Chaser, and Banded Demoiselle. They’ll make a great Christmas stocking filler – take a look.

State of Nature 2023 Report – UK nature-depleted

The State of Nature 2023 report, the most comprehensive report on the UK’s current biodiversity, has been released and is available to read in full here. The report uses data collated over the past 50 years by thousands of volunteers taking part in recording schemes, such as the National Recording Scheme for Odonata. In summary,…

Dragonfly Conservation Group – Statisticians Needed

The BDS Dragonfly Conservation Group is looking for volunteers with experience in statistical ecology to assist them in exploring and analysing the BDS datasets; for example, identifying relationships between species occurrence and environmental/geographical variables. The DCG is a volunteer group of dragonfly experts that works to forward research into British Odonata, in particular species of…