Warwickshire Dragonfly Group

Home
2019 news

Warwickshire Dragonfly Group - News page


Last Flights Table

First Flights Table

Display records page.

June 6st 2020 - The month of May has been spectacular for dragonflies - all expected early species now flying.

Scarce Chaser on the Avon.
Beautiful Demoiselle popping up all over the county in May 2020.
Hairy Dragonfly.
Other May dragonfly sightings.

May 8th 2020 - The flight season is really getting underway now - seven species now reported.

Very early occurrences of Beautiful Demoiselle.
Common Blue Damselfly reported at Bubbenhall, 2nd May.
Wet Thursday, 30th April.

April 24th 2020 - More flying dragonflies reported including Hairy Dragonfly.

April 16th 2020 - First record of Large Red Damselfly or any odonate this year.

March 2020 - Report for 2019 published in the BDS Darter journal.



Table of Latest Dates Recorded in Warwickshire
Species
Date 2023
Latest before 2023
Site for 2023
Recorder 2023

If you have any later dates for 2023 or later times for previous years please let me have them.



Table of Earliest Dates Recorded in Warwickshire
No first flights table for 2024 yet.


Back to page top


June 6th 2020 - the month of May has been spectacular for dragonflies - all expected early species now flying.

All the early flying species we would expect to see in the county are now seen - a total of fourteen species.

Many more sightings of all the reported species have been recorded - there have been some impressively long lists and equally impressive counts. Here is one list we received:

Bidford down to Marlcliffe today, 27/5/20 grid ref SP 09317 50899 etc.
Banded demoiselle, mixed, some old, some teneral, some in cop 100+
Blue tailed damselfly, mixed, some in cop, 100+
White-legged damselfly mixed, some in cop, 50+
Large red damselfly mixed, some in cop, 20+
Common blue damselfly mixed, some in cop, 30+
Azure damselfly mixed some in cope 20+
Emperor dragonfly, one male
Four spotted chasers on a river! Two males
Scarce chaser, mixed, some teneral, some mature, some in cop 20 individuals.
Red eyed damselfly mixed 50+
No signs of club tails at all


To see the latest records go to Records Display page. Records are updated often so to keep up with the latest sightings of species make sure you visit this page regularly.

Back to page top

Scarce Chaser on the Avon.
Click on image for next.
Image 1 of 3
fulva may 2020



Scarce Chaser is having a good year. For example in the Bidford-on Avon area Mick Schilling started off with the earliest ever sighting in the county on 20th May at Barton-on-Avon. This is two days earlier than the previous first sighting. The first image shows the bug. The second image is a pair mating photographed the following day.

There is also a sighting for the population at Charlecote. John Carter photographed a female on 31st May.
The two areas, Bidford and Charlecote, were known but the first sightings occurred on even and odd years. The larvae normally take two years to mature and emerge and for a few years the even/odd cycle persisted. Now they are both appearing every(?) year in both areas.

The map on species page show the locations of all the sightings.

Back to page top


Beautiful Demoiselle popping up all over the county.
Click on image for next.
Image 1 of 5
Alternative text



This year is proving something special for the Beautiful Demoiselle During May a lot of Beautiful Demoiselles were reported from thirteen different locations in the county and at two sites, Bubbenhall Wood and Spernall Park, they were first records. They were also seen in a few gardens.
At the Outspan the species, both males and females, have been regular visitors, almost resident. Our theory is that they are roosting here overnight and then feeding before returning to the Leam about a mile away. Certainly, they have been in greater numbers than previous years.
Five images of individuals are shown, the first two appear below in Very early occurrences of Beautiful Demoiselle. Follow this link to the Records Display page to see the locations of the records and their recorder and also see the map on the species page.

We should look out for more of this species, as it appears to be spreading its range and habitat - where will it turn up next?

Back to page top

Hairy Dragonfly
Click on image for next.
Image 1 of 3
Alternative text



The early flying Hairy Dragonflies were reported below on 24th April.

To date, a further nine records have been received. The third image shows a male,feeding on what looks like a Thick Headed Fly. It was photographed at the Swift Valley Reserve, Rugby by Paul Banks.
This is the first record of Hairy Dragonfly for the Swift Valley Reserve.

Follow this link to the Records Display page to see the locations of the records and their recorder. Also see the map on the species page.

Back to page top


Other May dragonfly sightings.
Click on image for next.
Image 1 of 6
Alternative text



See the First Flights Table for other May dragonfly sightings.
Large Red & Common Blue Damselflies, records were reported below on 16th April and 2nd May.

The three of the images show Large Red Damselfly, image 1 shows the individual that was the first record this year, images 2 & 3 were taken at the Outspan (the larvae is about ready to emerge) and no the emerging individual in the next image is not it! The fourth image is of a Black-tailed Skimmer photographed by James Kenny at Wolston Fields on 18th May. The first record for the species this year.

The last two images, 5 & 6, were taken at the Outspan too. They are of one of the four exuvia of Four-spotted Chaser recovered from the big garden pond in mid-May. There are side and front views.

Back to page top


May 8th 2020 - The flight season is really getting underway now - seven species now reported.

Seven species have now been reported flying. The two new species are Beautiful Demoiselle and Common Blue Damselfly - more details of these species are given below

More records have been supplied for the other species too.

There was a new Hairy Dragonfly sighting by Michael Lewis at Avon Dassett. As he says in his email:

I had a single Hairy Dragonfly in my garden today patrolling a row of shrubs. My friend Jonathon Bowley said that you would be interested in this record. I live in Avon Dassett, grid reference SP4150, and about 3 miles from the known site at Wormleighton Reservoir. This is the first time I have seen this species in my garden.
I have a garden pond, but have not seen any other species yet this year.


To see the latest records go to Records Display page

Back to page top

Very early occurrences of Beautiful Demoiselle.
Click on image for next.
Image 1 of 2
Early virgos May 2020



Two Beautiful Demoiselle have emerged very early.
The first was recorded by Mick Schilling at Barton-on-Avon on 2nd May, image 1. As the Earliest Dates table shows this is an amazing four week earlier than the record in 2011! And 2011 was a very early year for flying dragonflies.
Only three days later Katie Thorpe spotted one on the Dene between Wellesbourne and Charlecote, image 2.
Both the specimens are not yet mature and look of a very similar age. We should look out for more of this species.

Back to page top

Common Blue Damselfly reported at Bubbenhall, 2nd May.
RVD at Earlswood Lakes 4/7/2019

Jim Timms reported three Common Blue Damselfly at Bubbenhall on 2nd May.

As Jim said in his email:


Nothing on any pools at Bubbenhall early today. It was quite warm in the sunshine but this never lasted for very long before a big cloud would go across and the temperature dropped. Then back to sunshine and start all over again.
Nothing on the pools but managed three teneral Common Blue Damselflies as we walked around the site. Not very good photos but had to take them for identification.

Back to page top

Wet Thursday, 30th April.
A 22/4/2020


Maggie Smith photographed this poor little Large Red Damselfly emerging from her garden pond in Eathorpe. It flew away the next morning. Tough little things.




Back to page top


April 24th 2020 - More flying dragonflies reported including Hairy Dragonfly.

Ashley Hairy 22/4/2020

The season is really starting now with a male Hairy Dragonfly recorded at Middleton Lakes RSPB Reserve. Although the reserve is closed, the RSPB are still carrying out essential checks. The Hairy Dragonfly was found and photographed by Kate Ashley as she did her essential livestock checks. Very exciting to see this species on the reserve for a 2nd year.

Broad-bodied Chaser has been recorded at two sites. At Sutton Park by Richard Orton and at Newton cutting, Rugby by Steven Wright. Both were recorded on 22nd April.

The 22nd was an active day for records and recorders. Peter Dooley sighted a Banded Demoiselle at Ladywalk Nature Reserve too.

A glance at the first flight table shows that both the Hairy Dragonfly and the Broad-bodied Chaser appeared on their earliest dates for the county. So, perhaps it is going to be a year for early emergencies after all.

A number of Large Red Damselflies have now been recorded and Jim Timms has been pushed off the top by Lisa Williams.



Back to page top

April 16th 2020 - First record of Large Red Damselfly or any odonate this year.

Timms LRD 16/4/2020

Better late than never! Jim Timms recorded the first Large Red Damselfly for the year at Bubbenhall. The image shows the female individual in full mature colouring - it almost certainly emerged a day or so earlier than when seen.
The earliest flight date for the species in Warwickshire is 11th April in 2017 and so it arrived five days later.
Considering the relative warmth of the winter, a possible record breaking early record seemed on the cards. Was it the heavy winter rains or the lockdown that caused the delay in receiving an early record? Were they out there but unseen?

During your exercise session try to survey a local water body or two so we catch other early emerging species.



Back to page top


March 2020 - Report for 2019 published in the BDS Darter journal.

The BDS publishes the "Darter" every year. It is a communication journal for the county recorders. Below is article supplied to the journal for Warwickshire, VC 38. It is slightly different from the published copy - some editing was done.

2019 VC38 Darter report.

Back to page top





Banner artwork by Joan Sharrett

Last updated Tue Jun 09 18:20:45 2020

Visits since March 2020: 14477