Read the White-legged Damselfly Investigation final report

20/12/2023

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 a species is found). Project records contributed to the State of Dragonflies 2021 analysis which reported that Platycnemis pennipes significantly increased in occupancy between 1970 and 2019 and, as a result, is not currently a species of conservation concern. The final project report also illustrates the species’ shifting distribution on a Vice County level, with different wetland sites being simultaneously abandoned and colonised. These observations are thought to reflect both the species’ ability to utilise a range of still and flowing wetlands as well as its capacity to disperse in order to colonise new wetland sites. The apparent loss of Platycnemis pennipes from certain wetland sites likely indicates the habitat is no longer suitable for the species to breed and raises concerns for the overall ecological health of these sites.

We encourage Vice County Recorders to view the findings and to email any additional observations or comments to ; these will be added to their Vice County’s results page.

 

Image by Christophe Brochard