Dragonflies need your help

There have been a few chilly mornings down on the fen over recent days; the air crisp but the clear blue sky heralding what will be a warm day ahead. Here and there on the lush growth are the fragile forms of dragonflies and damselflies, the first of this season’s new generation, struggling to warm up before they can venture forth. These primitive forms seem sluggish at this time of day but once their bodies are up to temperature they will become the insect masters of the air, voracious predators with a formidable reputation.

Roosting overnight in the vegetation has clear advantages, not least the avoidance of most predators. However, the limp bodies of many dozens of damselflies hang contorted in the webs of a myriad of spiders. A closer inspection reveals these to be Azure Damselflies. The emergence of these tiny creatures must represent a seasonal bounty for the spiders. Elsewhere on the fen, along one of the more sheltered rides, are Hairy Dragonflies, a species of early spring and one of the first to be on the wing. The males have fine white down on the top of their thorax, between the huge eyes and the powerful wings. These are robust creatures, the males actively patrolling low over the vegetation.

Seeing these dragonflies is all the more important this summer because the British Dragonfly Society has just launched a new National Dragonfly Atlas. Fieldwork will continue over the next five years with the aim of building up a picture of how our various species of dragonfly and damselfly are doing. It is fair to say that a new atlas is urgently needed. Changes in the quality of wetland habitats, coupled with global warming, mean that we really need a new stock take of these wonderful creatures. Several new species have established themselves here since the last atlas and others have declined in number, maybe by more than we realise. The beauty of the new atlas is that anybody can get involved. This means that any records that you can collect of dragonflies can be fed into the atlas. All you need to do is record which species you saw, when and where you saw it and then submit this, together with your contact details, to the British Dragonfly Society (www.dragonflysoc.org.uk). Of course you need to be able to identify which species you saw. If this is something that you are unable to do, then simply take a photograph of the dragonfly and send this in with the other details. Experts at the society will be able to identify it for you and then add the record to the atlas. Now where did I put my notebook?