UK Dragonflies & Damselflies 2022 (2 Viewers)

[Swindon Addick]

We're up and running for the year, with a Banded Demoiselle seen in "a small London park" on 18 March. As with previous years, please feel free to use this thread for any UK odonata news and discussion, whether your own sightings or other news you've picked up.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1504795527120097282

 

[aeshna5]

What an incredible record!

 

[earthdragon64]

It was mentioned at the British Dragonfly Society online spring meeting this morning. It's thought that it could be as early because there is a sewage treatment plant nearby and the clean water coming out of there is a bit warmer and can heat up the pond water just enough to encourage early emergence.

 

[Bismarck Honeyeater]

It was mentioned at the British Dragonfly Society online spring meeting this morning. It's thought that it could be as early because there is a sewage treatment plant nearby and the clean water coming out of there is a bit warmer and can heat up the pond water just enough to encourage early emergence.

What is the earliest ever Dragonfly emergence?

 

[aeshna5]

Corresponding with David, apparently his very early Banded Demoiselle record above, surprisingly isn't the earliest ever as he tells me there is a record of one from Oxfordshire on 16/3/2000

 

[pdwinter]

Blue-tailed Damselfly, Cotgrave (Nottinghamshire), 27.02.2021 is the earliest date that I know of.

 

[Bismarck Honeyeater]

Blue-tailed Damselfly, Cotgrave (Nottinghamshire), 27.02.2021 is the earliest date that I know of.

Thanks. Not sure what the latest Dragonfly record would be (excluding Vagrant Emperor and/or Winter Damselfly, if that’s ever occured(?)) but I would imagine we’ll into December…

 

[aeshna5]

Thanks. Not sure what the latest Dragonfly record would be (excluding Vagrant Emperor and/or Winter Damselfly, if that’s ever occured(?)) but I would imagine we’ll into December…

One record of Winter Damselfly in south Wales from December 2009.

 

[pdwinter]

Adrian Parr's report on dragonflies in the Feb 2022 British Wildlife says for 2021 "The latest report of Common Darter was from Suffolk on 16th December, this being only a day or so short of the all-time latest record for Britain". I imagine that would be the all-time latest for any (non-vagrant) species

 

[Bismarck Honeyeater]

Adrian Parr's report on dragonflies in the Feb 2022 British Wildlife says for 2021 "The latest report of Common Darter was from Suffolk on 16th December, this being only a day or so short of the all-time latest record for Britain". I imagine that would be the all-time latest for any (non-vagrant) species

So that makes only 10 weeks without any native Dragons on the wing. 17th Dec-27th Feb.

 

[pdwinter]

So that makes only 10 weeks without any native Dragons on the wing. 17th Dec-27th Feb.

Very much weather dependent. For example, the last sighting in 2010 was a Common Darter on 17th November and the first sighting of 2011 was a Large Red Damselfly on 27th March - a gap of 130 days! The shortest winter gap I have managed is 123 days.

I think that this will be an 'early' year with many species seen on the wing by the end of April - certainly down here in the south.

 

[dantheman]

Not on the wing, but presume people have made an effort to see nymphs in eg January?!? (And id-able to species?)

 

[pdwinter]

Not on the wing, but presume people have made an effort to see nymphs in eg January?!? (And id-able to species?)

Yes - there are larval sampling records for January and February. Some species overwinter as eggs and hatch the following spring so you can't detect them by larval sampling in January. Some final instar larvae are identifiable to species level but it's not always possible. Some species are very distinctive e.g. Emperor and Golden-ringed and you can identify them when they are early instars.

 

[Bismarck Honeyeater]

One record of Winter Damselfly in south Wales from December 2009.

Is this a likely expansionist? Or a freakish one off?

 

[earthdragon64]

Up here, Aviemore, the earliest I have ever seen any odonata species is the 29th April, always a Large Red Damselfly. The latest was the 24th October one year and that was a Black Darter, I also saw a Common Hawker one year on the 23rd of October. Unless we have a very early year up here, I've still a month to go.

 

[aeshna5]

Is this a likely expansionist? Or a freakish one off?

Guess at the moment would appear to be the latter, though it is one tipped as a possible colonist in the future

 

[pdwinter]

Up here, Aviemore, the earliest I have ever seen any odonata species is the 29th April, always a Large Red Damselfly. The latest was the 24th October one year and that was a Black Darter, I also saw a Common Hawker one year on the 23rd of October. Unless we have a very early year up here, I've still a month to go.

Even down here on the edge of Southampton I've not seen a flying dragonfly earlier than 13th April!

 

[pdwinter]

Large Red Damselfly in Cornwall today (27.03.22 - iRecord).

 

[pdwinter]

In iRecord there are pics of a Four-spotted Chaser in Somerset on 12th April. (I just spent 10 days in southern Spain and saw 5 individuals, 2 of which went past so fast I could only guess at an ID, 2 were Large Red Damselflies and the other a Winter Damselfly.)

 

[honeym]

Large Red damselfly today (15 April 2022) on Wimbledon Common, Surrey vc17.