Both of the RSPB sites within the Arun Valley, Pulborough Brooks and Amberley Wildbrooks, are renowned for their dragonfly and damselfly species. Indeed the assemblage of dragonflies and damselflies is one of the features of their designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Watching, and photographing, these fantastic creatures patrol the ponds and ditches is popular during the summer months but, with flight seasons that extend from April through to November, our dedicated team of surveyors have been studying our species with monthly surveys.
Our volunteers follow a set transect at each of the sites, designed to cover the full range of wetland habitats across the nature reserves – the river itself, open ditches, well-vegetated ditches, heathland pools and our ponds. We record the species present along the transects but also record how many of each are seen and whether there is evidence of breeding such as mating or egg-laying.
Emperor dragonfly egg-laying. (Graham Osborne)
Performing the surveys enables us to identify and track newly colonising species and to monitor populations, in particular those of the nationally important species that are found on the reserve. Over the past couple of years four new species have made an appearance on the reserve list; willow emerald damselfly, blue-eyed hawker, Norfolk hawker and white-legged damselfly.
Blue-eyed hawker (Graham Osborne). Also known as the southern migrant hawker.
The notable species, which are classed as ‘near threatened’ are the scarce chaser and the variable damselfly. I’m pleased to report that there seems to be a healthy breeding population of the scarce chaser at both Pulborough Brooks and Amberley Wildbrooks. The variable damselfly is tricker to find amongst the many hundreds of similar-looking azure damselflies on the site.
Across our surveys this year 17 species have been recorded at Pulborough Brooks, with a further 5 species reported outside of the official survey days.
Here’s the list:
Banded demoiselle, common emerald damselfly, willow emerald damselfly, variable damselfly, azure damselfly, blue-tailed damselfly, large red damselfly, small red-eyed damselfly.
Broad bodied chaser, 4-spottecd chaser, scarce chaser, emperor dragonfly, southern hawker, migrant hawker, brown hawker, common darter, ruddy darter.
Additional reported species: downy emerald dragonfly, blue-eyed hawker, golden-ringed dragonfly, hairy dragonfly, beautiful demoiselle.
Female beautiful demoiselle. (Graham Osborne)
Sadly we’ve not recorded the heathland specialists black darter or small red damselfly this year. Perhaps they have been impacted by the dry springs/summers which have meant that many of the heathland pools have dried out, or perhaps we’ve just missed them on our once a month surveys. We’ll be putting in a special effort to search for these species during their flight season next year in the hope of confirming that they are present.
At Amberley Wildbrooks 20 species were recorded:
Banded demoiselle, beautiful demoiselle, common emerald damselfly, willow emerald damselfly, azure damselfly, blue-tailed damselfly, large red damselfly, red-eyed damselfly, small red-eyed damselfly.
Broad bodied chaser, 4-spotted chaser, scarce chaser, black-tailed skimmer, hairy dragonfly, emperor dragonfly, southern hawker, migrant hawker, brown hawker, common darter, ruddy darter.
Ruddy darter (Graham Osborne)
Many thanks to our team of volunteers who have gathered this important data – and taken some fantastic photos along the way!
You still have time to enjoy watching dragonflies this year - we're still seeing southern hawkers, migrant hawkers and common darters around the nature trails.