Welcome to National Dragonfly Week 2017! This year it’s running from Saturday 15th July until Sunday 23rd July. There is a lot going on to celebrate these wonderful insects, including guided walks, identification training days and some craft events for children. Details of some of these can be found on the British Dragonfly Society website: https://british-dragonflies.org.uk/content/upcoming-events. Alternatively, check out your local wildlife trust and country parks for dragonfly-related events.
Male Broad-bodied Chaser. Photographer: Charles J Sharp
Dragonflies and damselflies are wonderful insects, spending the first part of their lifecycle as eggs, before hatching into aquatic larvae. When they are mature, they enter the final part of their lifecycle and emerge as terrestrial adults, putting on wonderful aerobatic displays whilst hunting on the wing. Adults are much more colourful than their larval counter-parts and are also much easier to find.
White-legged Damselflies mating. Photographer: Jean-Jacques Boujot
If you would like to find some dragonflies to watch, head down to a local water body on a warm, sunny day and see what you can spot. Different species of dragonflies and damselflies like different habitats but they all have one thing in common- water! It is more common for them to be found on either still or slow-moving waters so ponds, lakes and canals are great places to start. And whilst your there, why not get involved with the Dragonfly Challenge? A new project for National Dragonfly Week that asks people to do a quick survey at a near-by water body, recording any dragonflies and damselflies that they see and can identify. More information on this can be found here:
https://british-dragonflies.org.uk/node/7284
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Rachel Davies
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