Welcome to the Dragonflies of Worcestershire

This site is intended as a follow up to the book "The Dragonflies of Worcestershire", keeping recorders informed about the latest distribution of dragonflies in the county. Records are always welcome of any sightings and you can forward those records in a number of ways (See ways of recording information), one simple way is to email this site using the Send sightings / Contactsend sightings/contact tab on the top bar.

The site also contains information about where to see dragonflies and what is going on in the county 

All the 2016 records have been added - many thanks to all those who sent those in. Click here to go to the maps for each species or click the Maps for 2016 tab

​

Can you help with the Clubtail survey this year see below 

David Attenborough gets a new dragonfly named after him in honour of his 90th birthday

Recent work in Madagascar has discovered several new species of dragonfly, and one has been named after Sir David. The dragonfly  ​was already known but it was only recently realised that it was a separate species from the usual one found across Africa. As this is a relatively common species in Madagascar, it is appropriate that many people will see it and know it as Sir David’s Dragonfly. Acisoma attenboroughi
​See it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03t2443

​

Dragonflies feature in local Book: The Nature of Wyre is a remarkably detailed account of the wildlife of an English forest on the borders of Shropshire and Worcestershire. The Wyre Forest is one of Britain’s most important ancient woodlands and its survival, just 25 miles from the centre of Birmingham, is a modern miracle. Its history and geographical position make it home to a stunning array of wildlife from all corners of the British Isles that includes Dippers, Slavemaker Ants, Narrow-leaved Helleborine orchids and Dragonflies . Edited by Brett Westwood, Peter Shirley, Rosemary Winnall & Harry Green. 2015. Pisces Publications, Newbury. 312pp, colour illustrated. ISBN 978-1-874357-69-8. HBK. £37.50

If you are local to kidderminster I will deliver a copy for £35.00
​contact me

Dragonfly Buzz

Someday, cicadas and dragonflies might save your sight. The key to this power lies in their wings, which are coated with a forest of tiny pointed pillars that impale and kill bacterial cells unlucky enough to land on them. Now, scientists report they have replicated these antibacterial nanopillars on synthetic polymers that are being developed to restore vision.  See report in New Scientist
​

When did you last see a pair of Brown Hawkers in the Cop position?
The sight of lone females, egg laying isn’t unusual but apparently mating is not often seen and if work in Germany is anything to go on it may happen around sunrise. Researchers in Germany (Matutinal Mating in Aeshna grandis-Odonatologica Dec 2017 p 207-226) found that males would search for perched females around sunrise even it was wet and cool. This may be natural selection to pick the hardiest and keenest males apparently! We have very few sightings in Worcs so be on the lookout next year if you are an early bird!
​

Dragonflies are model for the latest drone design. Rather than using rotors this mimic uses four wings just like a dragonfly. Skeeter, as it is called, will have four independently flapping wings, a camera and microphone, and will fly at up to 45 kmph

Dragonfly brains predict the path of their prey showing skills previously thought to be only achieved by mammals
New research from Australia and Sweden has shown how a dragonfly's brain anticipates the movement of its prey, enabling it to hunt successfully. This knowledge could lead to innovations in fields such as robot vision. The Swedish-Australian collaboration resulted in the discovery of brain cells (neurons) in the dragonfly Hemicordulia that enables them to predicatively pursue and catch their flying prey. These neurons make it possible to focus on a small object that moves over a complex background, similarly to how humans can track and catch a ball, even when that ball is moving against the backdrop of a cheering crowd

Female Dragonflies take a dive to avoid male advances
Reported in the New Scientist female dragonflies have been noted as using extreme tactics to get rid of unwanted suitors: they drop out the sky and then pretend to be dead.
Rassim Khelifa from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, witnessed the behaviour for the first time in the moorland (Common) hawker dragonfly (Aeshna juncea). While collecting their larvae in the Swiss Alps, he watched a female crash-dive to the ground while being pursued by a male. The female then lay motionless on her back. As soon as her suitor flew away, the female took off again. It is probably related to general evasion of predator tactics

Scent of a Damselfly helps males choose a mate.
To date there is no evidence that damselflies use any sense other than vision (and tactile stimuli) in mate searching and sex recognition. However the results of research in Italy has shown that male damselflies of Ischnura elegans can distinguish between males & females using chemical clues. This is particularly significant where you find a number of colour forms as with this species and it is thought the antennae pick up the clues.
Frati F, Piersanti S, Conti E, Rebora M,Salerno G (2015) Scent of a Dragonfly: Sex Recognition in a Polymorphic Coenagrionid. PLoSONE 10(8): e0136697. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0136697

---

A Dragonfly is the world’s greatest traveller: The Globeskimmer (Pantala flavescens) has been known to be a long distance traveller for some time and for this reason has been chosen to be the logo of the World Dragonfly Association. 

Caught in the Act
100 million years ago a male damselfly spotted a potential mate and began trying to impress with an intricate courtship dance. Unfortunately the damselfly, rather than enjoying the fruits of its labour, found itself encased in sticky tree sap, which later turned into amber. It is the first time the mating dance of ancient insects has been discovered fossilised in amber. The fossil which dates from the Mid-cretaceous period when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, was disclosed by researchers from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in the journal Scientific Reports. The new species, Y. huangi, was named after the man who found the amber in Myanmar and gave it to scientists.

Recent genetic work has proved that the species that occurs on all continents except the Antarctic are so close that they have all derived from the same lineage. Most dragonflies and insects never move far from their own pond leading to differences over geological time. Madagascar which has been an island for over 30 million years shows how creatures develop in localised ways as over 90% of dragonfly species are endemic ( only found there). Pantala probably moves 3000 miles in one go around the Indian Ocean and It shows that it easily beats the Monarch Butterfly, the other great travelling insect Citation: Troast D, Suhling F, Jinguji H, Sahlén G, Ware J (2016) A Global Population Genetic Study of Pantala flavescens. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0148949. doi:10.1371/journal

How much does a Dragonfly eat: more work on the Globe Skimmer by a Japanese University has found that a typical Pantala eats about 14mg’s of food a day equating to about 185 midge like insects. If you think what the population of this worldwide species is then the amount of insects eaten each year is staggering and good reason to encourage dragonflies in mosquito areas (Odonatologica vol 44 No 3 2015)


.


Ever wondered what is going on below the water surface in your pond? Check this super little film by Andy Holt. It takes you to places you would normally need a snorkel for:    Here

Also a very interesting film made in Herefordshire from Sinclair Stammers of micromacro  

_There is a new look website for the Worldwide Dragonfly Association click here This new site holds a lot more information about dragonflies as well as the venue for the next biennial World Dragonfly meeting at Cambridge in 2017
This meeting was a great success with 4 days of cutting edge lectures and some fascinating sessions on Dragonfly Flight and sight

Dragonflies have many predators including Wagtails, Hobbys and ants but we sometimes forget the larval predators like Kingfishers. Here is an interesting film of a Kingfisher at a private pond in Worcs, bringing a Hawker Larva back to his perch to whack it on the post before carefully eating it head first. The larva is probably a Southern Hawker. The moral is that it probably best to sit motionless when in clear water (see film here). Film and photo courtesy of Wildlife Kate
​

Clubtail Survey
This year there is a follow up to the Clubtail survey that was held last year and people are being asked to visit and confirm breeding at as many squares as possible but this year you can book squares you want to visit online at this site. If you would like to help in Worcestershire please use the booking form. Because there are worries that the Clubtail has disappeared from the River Avon it would be particularly useful if people could look there. Don't forget that we want to know if you don't find any as well as where you do so please record positive and negative sightings and let Mike Averill know as well. Details of how to look for clubtails can be found on the BDS website 
 Click Here to see how the Club-tailed Dragonfly (Gomphus vulgatissimus) is faring on the River Severn at Bewdley where a long term survey is carried out every year


​

There is a book being prepared about the wildlife of the Malvern Hills and the associated common land,  and the release date is May 2018. With one of the first ever records for the dragonfly database being in Malvern, dragonflies will feature in the book. Watch out for the pre-publication offer.

On the Wing 2018

27 May 2018 John Tilt reports a Southern Hawker from Grafton Wood

22 May 2018 Some of you may be looking for White-legged Damselflies along with the National Clubtail searches. They have been out for a few days now and the pale immature forms can be seen along the main rivers. Also some can be seen at Pool sites like this one at Leigh Sinton Fishery-Thanks to John Lane

19 th May 2018 Four-spotted Chasers are fabulous when newly emerged and show the golden markings along the front of the wings. This one was seen at Ryall by Andy Warr, but you are so much more likely to see them just about anywhere in the county now compared to how unusual that would have been 20 years ago. Climate change or what?, who knows sometimes dragonflies suddenly make a habitat change for no apparent reason- take the Scarce Chaser.

18 May 2018 Although not fully coloured yet this teneral male Black-tailed Skimmer, seen by John Stroud at Monkwood, is already characteristically hugging the decking. Interestingly it is quite early compared to previous years

14 May 2018 A run of warmer sunny days has meant that some other damselflies are making an appearance now such as the Blue-tailed Damselfly and Common Blue Damselfly

12 May 2018 Another Spring damselfly this Red-eyed was seen today at Birlingham by Andy Warr along with Large Reds and Banded Demoiselle

08 May 2018 A record breaking run of hot, sunny, May Bank Holiday weather has produced the second damselfly to emerge the Azure Damselfly. This female from Jason, was once again at Hillditch

22 April 2018 A bit delayed by the cold start to the year, the first signs of Large Red Damselfly were found when two shed larval cases were seen at Pershore Horticultural college today

28 May 2018 The first of the big Hawkers is out now, the Emperor. This one at Hillditch has probably been out for several days as it is fully coloured

21 May 2018 No sign of adults but this larval case shows that the Scarce Chaser has started to emerge at Eckington. Unfortunately there was no sign of any Clubtails again this year 

18 May 2018 After a slow start, higher river temperatures have encouraged Clubtails to emerge well now and you may be lucky to encounter a fully coloured specimen like Any Warr did with this one at Ripple

14 May 2018 The identification of this Demoiselle might have initially been tricky but fortunately it was practising its wing clapping showing the brown colour of the immature male Beautiful Demoiselle. Mature males do this to emphasize ownership of a territory. In Victorian times this colour stage was thought to be a separate species 

12 May 2018 definitely over a week late this year the first Clubtail shows at Bewdley. It will be interesting to see if the total emergence will be concentrated in to a shorter time period

10 May 2018 Just when the cool Spring was making first emergence dates look late, the Broad Bodied Chaser makes an appearance at the same day as last year at Lower Smite Farm - thanks to Steve Bloomfield for the shot

04 May 2018 Signs that the season has finally started today when Jason spots some Large Red Damselflies at Hillditch pool. Good weather is forecast for the next few days so hopefully other species will also be found

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

​On the Wing 2017

19 Sep 2017 It can be difficult to separate some of the darters, this one could be a Ruddy Darter and even looks like it has the tapered abdominal waist.
Looking at it from another angle, the light thoracic panels and the light line down the legs confirm it as a Common Darter

There has been an early influx of the Red-veined Darter in Europe which has led to lots of these dragonflies emerging already in what would be normally considered unlikely dragonfly habitat such as urban fountains and ponds. If anyone sees any shed larval cases in unusual places here, could they check if they are likely to be these. They are easy to identify as the darter like cases have no spines on the back of the abdomen at all

04 Aug 2017  Not seen in the county since 2011, the Lesser Emperor made an appearance at Fox Hollies Park, Hall Green, Birmingham today. It isn’t the easiest dragonfly to identify on the wing, fortunately Des Jennings managed to spot the blue saddle, brown abdomen and green eyes of this cousin of our Emperor. The photo below was taken of the same species in Morocco

17 July 2017 The last of our regular dragonflies makes an early appearance this year when Migrant hawkers were seen at Grafton by John Tilt and at Malvern by John Lane. Difficult to identify when Southern and Common Hawkers are around but the slightly smaller size and then fact that several may be seen flying around together are a clue

01 July 2017 Good weather has brought the Small Red-eyed Damselfly out earlier than ever this year. This one snapped by Gary Palmer. Hot weather also produces lots of algae, in to which this damselfly quite likes to lay its eggs

20 Jun 2017 A welcome return after an absence of two years is the Red-veined Darter. Five were seen at Pirton today, I wonder if there are any at Grimley?

18 June 2017 Usually Emerald Damselflies sit with their wings partly open, hence the popular name spreadwings, this one though, shows it isn’t always the case

3 June 2017 Well there must be at least two Scarce Chasers at Hillditch Pool as Jason snapped this fully coloured male today

28 May 2017 When you get a really good sunny day damselflies often seem more evident at a pool. Gary Palmer sends this photo of (rufescens), one of the 5 female colour forms of Blue-tailed Damselflies he saw at Hillditch pool. When you get a reasonable sized population of Blue-tailed, several of these forms can be found. They are not actually recorded separately as they are the same species but you can enter the form as a comment on the record entry

26 May 2017 Today there have been a few Scarce Chaser sightings. One from Jason who, interestingly, saw one at Hillditch Pool. Last year it was thought that the local population may have petered out but they have managed to last another year. Others were also seen at Tyddesley Wood. In case anyone who is looking for Clubtail larvae cases along the Avon might find a Scarce Chaser instead, they are easy to identify as the Scarce Chaser has very extended spines on the back of the abdomen.

21 May 2017 Another dragonfly that has survived the rigours of dredging and strimming at Croome Court this year is this nice Broad-bodied Chaser, seen by John Stroud

18 May 2017 As was the case last year, the first White-legged Damselfly was seen on a pool, which possibly shows that pools can warm up a bit quicker than rivers. Normally they are thought to be a river species. Thanks to John Lane for this one

10 May 2017 A third species was reported today as a first sighting and this Broad-bodied Chaser came from Grafton Wood. This wasn’t particularly early for this species

09 May 2017 The Clubtail emergence is under way now with a big increase following some fine weather. Last year we saw that there are many challenges to face during emergence, like ants wagtails and the weather, but this one just seemed to die for no apparent reason other than the whole exertion of the process

07 May 2017 At last a warm sunny day after a run of cooler weather and immediately the first Azure Damselflies begin to emerge.

02 May 2012 The first Club-tailed Dragonfly of the year emerged today at Bewdley, not quite the earliest date but the river had gone cool in the last two weeks. Ideally the river needs to be at least 13ºC, which it generally is by mid May

18 April 2017 An extremely early Beautiful Demoiselle has been seen on the River Stour at Wilden. This individual was at least a day old as the metallic colours were developed with only the eyes and wings to develop

8 April 2017 This year has kicked off to a good start with the earliest Large Red Damselfly seen today at Monkwood for 11 years

28 Sep 2017 Now that Autumn is upon us the Common Darters are particularly active on sunny days. This very dark female shows that the wings and body colour can get quite dark with age. The other reason why you might find darker individuals is to go north where dragonflies need to be darker to absorb the lower sunlight levels 

20 Sep2017 Most insects have three small simple eyes other than the big compound eyes. It is generally thought that they are to do with light reception and so may be involved with day length measurement but in dragonflies it is quite likely that they are used to ascertain flight attitude. The common Darter below has two small eyes near the base of the antennae looking sideways and one front facing larger lens rather like a train headlight which sits in the black band called the frons

27 Aug 2017 Reflecting on this year’s  dragonfly season there was a special moment to remember when a Southern Hawker spent 20 minutes egg laying in moss around an ornamental pond where we were walking. The best thing was that my nephews lad was able to get really close and watch what was going on as the dragonfly was especially confiding. At the end of the day he proudly proclaimed that he had never been so close to a dragonfly before and that was better than a similar close encounter he had had with a sheep earlier.

01 Sept 2017 Welcomed back after a gap of 9 years the Ruddy Darter was seen by Jason at Hillditch Pool. Usually found at very well vegetated water bodies, this species is one of the few dragonflies that can withstand periods of drought in the late Summer. Fortunately Hillditch never goes dry

8 July 2017 I have mentioned unusual blue coloured Southern Hawkers before and one was seen again today at Monkwood.
Notice the thorax colouring is yellow not green and all the usually green spots on the abdomen are pale blue. What causes this is unsure, It could be just a transitional change but the male dragonfly appears to be fully mature already judging by the eyes. If it was a common occurrence why is it not seen more often?

20 June 2017 At Croome today were the first Ruddy Darters. At first glance it could have been a Common Darter but the all black legs give it away

18 June 2017 What’s happening here? Common Damselflies readily buzz larger dragonflies that appear in their patch and usually a female emperor would take no notice. This male does an unusual thing with its abdomen though as a threat. Emperors will have a go at catching large prey and so the damselfly is taking a bit of a chance 

7 June 2017 It’s often difficult to know when a species first starts to emerge as the new adults stay away from the waterbody for a while. As we have seen before, John from Malvern has a garden which is very attractive to newly emerged (teneral) dragonflies, and he has had the first Southern Hawker today 

30 May 2017 A Scarce Chaser was seen again at Hillditch pool and is probably the same one seen 4 days ago, or are there two this year! A fabulous insect and shot from Gary Palmer

26 May 2017 A fleeting glance of a large dragonfly today at Hillditch Pool was all that Jason needed to identify the First Emperor at Hillditch pool. Too quick to get a photo so let’s revisit this shot taken last year

25 May 2017 After an early start for some species it seemed like a long wait for the first Black-tailed Skimmer. This larval case was seen near Caunsall, but with no sign of the adult

18 May 2017 Records for the Clubtail Dragonfly are very welcome this year during the National survey for this species. John Stroud saw 9 (including the one below), along the Severn below Blackstone Rock, Bewdley

10 May 2017 Croome Park may not be up to its usual high standards for dragonflies this year as the River was dredged in the early Spring. Some have managed to survive the ordeal at least, like some Blue-tailed Damselflies and the newly emerged Red-Eyed Damselfly below

10 May 2017 There were some Blue-tailed Damselflies seen today, at Lower Smite Farm and Croome Court 

07 May 2017 Another first Today as Jason finds a Four-spotted Chaser at Hartlebury Bog 

07 May 2017 Also emerging today at Caunsall were a few Common Blue Damselflies here is one of the freshly shed larval skins

19 April 2017 Also seen today at Wilden was the Banded Demoiselle which appeared to be almost fully coloured except for the eyes

 ​

This photo reminds us that the blue form of the Southern Hawker is unusual to find and so any photos are very welcome associated with any comments on the ambient temperature when seen

The new Atlas of Dragonflies in Britain and Ireland is still available. This full colour book (approx. 300 pages from the British Dragonfly Society), maps the distribution of all 56 species of damselfly and dragonfly in Britain and Ireland. The prepublication offer has ended but the atlas is now available from the BDS shop website.
The atlas is edited by Steve Cham, Brian Nelson, Steve Prentice, Dave Smallshire and Pam Taylor 
​Don't forget you can see the fine detail for all the Worcestershire Records on the Maps for 2008-12  pages of this site
All Worcs recorders are credited in the new National Atlas

there is now a link on the Worcs species page to check identification

Dragonfly Buzz is a section for interesting facts 

On The Wing is for the latest sightings - feel free to use the contact page for these