This summer we were lucky enough to have had Dave Smallshire from the British Dragonfly Society on the reserve to record dragonflies and damselflies. In preparation for future years, Dave also included the training up of members of staff and volunteers alongside his survey work, giving us the knowledge and skills needed to carry out the recording of these fantastic insects ourselves.
(Above: Volunteers carrying out dragonfly survey)
The survey work involved walking set transects around the wetland walkway and mitigation ponds noting down the species seen, abundance and their behaviour, whether that was defending territory, feeding, mating, egg laying or simply resting.
(Above: Common darter basking on the path)
So far a total of 17 different species have been identified on the reserve, including common favourites such as Four-spotted Chasers and Emperor Dragonflies. Species of more note to have been found on the reserve this summer include the Small Red-eyed Damselfly, Scarce Chaser, Brown Hawker and the Ruddy Darter.
(Above: Broad-bodied chaser)
