Hopes flying high for seeing rare dragonflies in north Cumbria
An exciting conservation project is introducing one of Britain’s rarest dragonflies to Drumburgh Moss. The white-faced darter, a small, dark dragonfly with a distinctive white head, is currently only found in a handful of sites across England. Cumbria Wildlife Trust, the British Dragonfly Society and Natural England have launched a programme to introduce this rare species at Drumburgh Moss National … Continued
Assistance Needed with Specimen Collection for Portuguese Research Project
Ricardo Bessa is needs the help of British entomologists to complete his PhD at the Research Institute on Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, in Portugal. The objective of his PhD is to explore the bactericidal properties of insect wings’ nanotopographies from a broad range of insect species and attempt to synthetically replicate those structures. This work builds … Continued
Pond Ponderings – from Avopond, a brand new pond in suburban York
Welcome along our first Pond Pondering bloggers Mollie and Lawrence from York! “Beginning a new garden is always exciting and was a brilliant opportunity to create a pond and make it a focal point of my very own mini nature reserve. With only a small garden, the challenge has been to create a pond substantial … Continued
Welcome to Pond Ponderings – a pond blog by gardeners of all experience levels
Here you will find regular blog posts, Pondcasts, about garden ponds of all types and sizes created by gardeners of all experience levels and different budgets levels too. These posts will be honest accounts of the issues and joys that wildlife gardening and ponds in particular can bring. Including highlights of which species move into … Continued
Distribution trends of European dragonflies under climate change
A new study by Tim Termatt et al examines shifts in dragonfly species distribution across Europe in response to a warming climate. Data from a total of 10 European regions and 99 species were studied and compared to changes in climate over recent decades. The results indicate that European dragonfly species are showing an overall … Continued
“The last man standing” – a possible new taxonomic entity for European Odonata
Article by Milen Marinov and Nurten Hacet of Trakya University, Turkey Dragonflies and Damselflies of Europe have been so thoroughly investigated that the young students in this insect group are left with hardly anything new to describe from the old continent. In the hunt for more taxonomic puzzles our team challenged one of the prettiest of … Continued
Global collapse of insect populations
The Guardian has covered on a new data study reporting that global insect total mass declines by a staggering 2.5% a year. The study also claims that 40% of insect species are declining, and a third are categorised as endangered. All ecosystems rely on insects, the most diverse and abundant group of animals on the … Continued
A big thank you to our Fundraising Officer
We are sad to announce that our Fundraising Officer Sarah Miller has left the BDS after two years in her role. During that time she did an amazing job of gaining numerous grants for the BDS allowing us to expand our operations, including hiring a Conservation Outreach Officer and starting new projects like the England … Continued
Willow Emerald Watch Update
Thanks to the efforts of our volunteer dragonfly recorders, we have been able to closely following the spread and colonisation of the Willow Emerald Damselfly since those first mass sightings in 2009. The 2018 dragonfly season saw many important new records of the Willow Emerald Damselfly, and there was a clear consolidation of populations near the … Continued