Table of Last flight dates

Table of Earliest Flight dates

November 28th - 2013  Year round up

August 16^th 2013 -            Late Summer

August 6^th & 7^th 2013 -     Lesser Emperor Dragonfly sightings

July 27^th 2013 -                  Blythe Valley Business Park meeting

July 25^th 2013 -                  High summer

July 6^th 2013 -                    Catherton common field meeting

May 27^th 2013 -                  A big emergence of Red-eyed Damselflies at Wormlieghton Reservoir

May 26^th 2013 -                  More Hairy Dragonflies at Stockton

May 25^th 2013 -                 Marlcliff field meeting & other sightings

May 19^th 2013 -                 More flying dragonflies

May 16^th 2013 -                 First flying Four-spotted Chaser of 2013

May 6^th 2013 -         Large Red Damselflies at Snitterfield Bushes

May 5^th 2013 -         Large Red Damselfly at Lighthorne Heath

Table of Earliest Dates for 2013

Table of Late Flying Dragonflies

Below are the latest recorded dates for each species flying in the county this year.

Table of Earliest Dates Recorded

If you have any earlier dates for 2013 or earlier times for previous years please let me have them.

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November 28^th 2013 - Year round up

2013 has been a year of ups and downs, or perhaps it should be downs and ups. The very cold weather persisted well into spring resulting in a late start to the flying season, see the first flights table. The contrast between 2011, that was very warm from the new year and into the spring, is very marked. As this year progressed the weather improved greatly giving the best summer for many years but even so the late emergence of species continued. However, such good weather should have given good reproductive success and so, hopefully, we can look forward to good populations of dragonflies and damselflies for the next year or two.

The onset of cold weather finished the flight period for most species fairly early - see the late flights table. The Migrant Hawker and Common Darter hung on until mid-November.

The  histogram shows the number of records received for 2013 (total 1062) is historically high though somewhat less than the previous few years. The effort up to 2012 will contribute to the new BDS Dragonfly Atlas  which is to be published in May 2014. However, this year's records will not be included except for the Lesser Emperor which we managed to squeeze in.

There were two notable vagrant sightings in the year: Mike Inskip's remarkable second sighting in three years of Lesser Emperor Dragonfly at Morton Bagot, see report the for August 6 & 7; and Red-veined Darter by Jon Bowley on 14 July at Salford Priors, see the 25 July report.

The rarer county species have had a mixed year. The Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly is still hanging on at its one breeding site but changes of habitat have caused it to move to more suitable breeding habitat there, see 25 July report.

Hairy dragonfly did well at Stockton Quarry with a total of 18 exuvia collected but there were no reports of it at any other sites in the county which is disappointing.

Scarce Chaser was not seen this year despite careful searching. Perhaps this is not a worry because the normal life cycle is two years. It was first found in the county in 2010 and then reoccurred in 2012 in larger numbers so we may expect to see them next year - hopefully in still larger numbers.

The status of Club-tailed Dragonfly on the Avon is more worrying. In 2011 none were seen, only two adults were seen in 2012 and those away from the river. In 2013 none were recorded. In the years from 1998 until 2010 reasonably good numbers of adults were recorded and in most years emergents and exuvia were found too. The peak years for numbers were 2002 with about 40, 2004 with 15 and 2009 with 20. The effort made to find them has been similar every year and so the drop in records is not a reflection of less effort. It is hoped that the species is not going extinct in the county and that next year will see a reverse the downward trend.

The distribution maps for all species are up to date with this year's record and show their current status in the county. Note also that the accuracy of the Vice County borders on the maps is improved and this has resulted in minor changes of the county outline to that previously shown - this is particularly apparent in 10k sq. SP14.

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August 17^th 2013 - Late summer

All our breeding species are now flying (see erroneous July 25 report). Migrant Hawker was first sighted 28^th July by Jon Bowley at Salford Priors. Kay and Peter Reeve found three Migrant Hawker exuvia at Frankton Fish Ponds on 3^rd August another proof of county breeding of the species.

As with last year at this time, there are very good numbers of Brown Hawkers flying.

The first flights table shows all the earliest dates for the species and this year is noticeable later than the earliest dates and, for most species, later than the norm.

August 6th & 7th 2013 - Lesser Emperor Dragonfly sightings

On Tuesday 6th August 2013 Mike Inskip reported a male Lesser Emperor Dragonfly at Morton Bagot that day. This was particularly remarkable for in July 2011 Mike made the First County Record for the species less than 2 miles from this sighting. On Wednesday 7th Kay and Peter Reeve joined Mike for a revisit to the site and were treated to many views of the insect patrolling the pool. It flew about 2 feet above the water along a triangular course, about 100 to 200 feet along two banks following a corner and completing the triangle across the open water. When following the pool edge it flew from about 3 or 4 feet to 10 to 20 feet from the bank. It continued its patrolling for about half-an-hour. It is interesting to note it left when an Emperor Dragonfly took over its space. It is said that Emperor Dragonflies will drive Lesser Emperors away ("Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland", Steve Brooks, ed.) though we saw no interaction between them. It was flying very fast and was very difficult to photograph. As you will see, we did our best! The image shows the very distinctive bright blue saddle and green eyes.

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July 27^th 2013 - Blythe Valley Business Park meeting 

The Blythe Valley Business Park (BVB) is tucked between the river Blythe and the M42 motorway. While an ideal location for business providing immediate access to the motorway system its attraction to odonatists is not immediately obvious. What is though is the Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) which centres on a number of pools, some of which appear ideal for breeding dragonflies. See http://www.susdrain.org/files/resources/briefings/suds_in_the_community.pdf for more information about the BVB SuDS. Our aim was to see and record the species and numbers there.

In very warm and breezy conditions, eleven of us set out to see what we could find. We visited six of the pools forming part of the SuDS and also made an excursion to the River Blythe. The pools yielded ten species: five species of dragonflies - one Southern and six Brown Hawkers, two Emperor Dragonflies, one Four-spotted Chaser and five Common Darters; and five species of damselflies - hundreds of Azure and Common Damselflies, a few Blue-tailed Damselflies and Emerald Damselfly. For the last species two newly emerged and one mature adult and two exuvia were found. The fifth damselfly was a solitary male Banded Demoiselle flying along a path by a pool. A brief expedition through some pretty rough vegetation was made to the bank of the Blythe by one adventurous member of the group. It was productive and a lovely male Beautiful Demoiselle was seen taking the total count of species for the day to eleven. The picture shows the group on a roundabout with a decorative water feature. We found Blue-tailed Damselfly and Common Darter here. Two newly emerged Darters flew while we watched and a mature male was holding territory. A Common Darter exuvia was found there also. An unusual breeding place, with an on site fountain! The species count is quite good and the numbers of the common blue damselflies were high. Other species were seen in relatively small numbers but, as the Emerald Damselfly exuvia show, the pools support breeding populations. Most pools look very suitable as breeding sites. SuDS do seem to benefit dragonflies.

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July 25^th 2013 -  High summer

This year most species were late, some very late,but all most of *our county breeding species are now flying helped, no doubt, by the hot spell - see the first flights table for dates.
* Corrected 17/8/2013, all but Migrant Hawker.

One unusual vagrant has been reported. Jon Bowley saw a male Red-veined Darter at Salford Priors on 14 July. He also reports the Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly is hanging on at its one county breeding site. He reported "They were inhabiting a narrow and shallow sludgy stagnant drain. There was no sign around the main site where the water level is now very high and the surrounding semi-permanent puddles have recently dried up." They are still managing to find micro-sites that suit their very demanding breeding requirements but are needing to move about the site.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly and Ruddy Darter are our last breeders to be reported flying, the latter species almost a month later than its earliest ever date.

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May 27^th 2013 - A big emergence of Red-eyed Damselflies at Wormlieghton Reservoir

On a monitoring transect at the Reservoir Kay and Peter Reeve observed good numbers of Red-eyed Damselflies emerging. Thirty-one were counted. This is the first record for the species this year. There were also Common Blue-tail, Common Blue, Azure and Large-red Damselflies present and only the Common Blue-tail in any numbers of which 21 were counted.

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May 26^th 2013 - More Hairy Dragonflies at Stockton

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May 25^th 2013 - Marlcliff field meeting & other sightings

The day was bright and warm and Ian Dove, Steve Stroud, Kay and Peter Reeve set out to find Club-tailed Dragonfly and possibly Scarce Chaser. Their hopes were high but not fulfilled. Good numbers of Banded Demoiselle were seen, most in a very immature state. The only other species present was Large Red Damselfly. To assuage frustration we went lower down the Avon to Eckington in Worcestershire were a Club-tailed Dragonfly had been reported a few days earlier. Here we managed to see a couple of newly emerged Club-tails making their first flights and found a moribund female Club-tail with wings that failed to expand. It may have attempted to emerge in the very adverse weather the previous day and provided a, sad, opportunity to see a specimen at close hand.

Maggie Perris, John Harris  and the RSPB Team found Banded Demoiselle on the RSPB reserve at Middleton Lakes showing that the species is emerging in both the north and south of the county.

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The warmer weather is, belatedly, bringing more dragonflies out. Kay and Peter Reeve observed two emerging Hairy Dragonfly and collected six exuvia for the species at Stockton Quarry. Common Blue Damselfly and Blue-tailed Damselfly were seen too. On the same day Jon Bowley recorded Azure Damselfly at Salford Priors.

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May 16th 2013 - First flying Four-spotted Chaser of 2013

Jim Timms reports a Four-spottedChaser at Bubbenhall Meadow. The first true dragonfly of 2013 flying in the county.

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May 6^th 2013 - Large Red Damselflies at Snitterfield Bushes

A significant emergence of Large Red Damselflies was observed taking place at the pond by Kay and Peter Reeve. Sixteen newly emerged males were counted, there were no females. A single fully coloured male was spotted some distance from the pond - it must have emerged a day or two earlier.

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Please send any item for inclusion on the news page to:

Peter Reeve, Co-ordinator WDG
The  Outspan
Leamington Hastings
Near Rugby CV23 8DZ
01926-632400
Email: peteratreeve60dotorgdotuk

Banner artwork by Joan Sharrett