The Dragonflies of Lancashire and North Merseyside
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Lancashire & Cheshire Fauna Society Registered Charity 500685 www.lacfs.org.uk Publication No. 118 2015 The Dragonflies of Lancashire and North Merseyside Steve White and Philip H. Smith 2 Lancashire & Cheshire Fauna Society The Dragonflies of Lancashire and North Merseyside Steve White and Philip H. Smith Front cover: Banded Demoiselle, Downholland Brook, Formby (Trevor Davenport) Back cover: Common Darter, Seaforth Nature Reserve (Steve Young) Published in 2015 by the Lancashire and Cheshire Fauna Society, Rishton, Lancashire Recommended citation: White, S.J. & Smith, P.H. 2015. The Dragonflies of Lancashire and North Merseyside. Lancashire & Cheshire Fauna Society. Rishton. Lancashire & Cheshire Fauna Society Printed by CPL Design + Print. CONTENTS Acknowledgements 4 Introduction 5 Factors affecting Dragonfly Distribution 9 Main Habitats and Sites 18 SPECIES ACCOUNTS 1 Damselflies Emerald Damselfly Lestes sponsa Banded Demoiselle Calopteryx splendens 5 Beautiful Demoiselle Calopteryx virgo 9 Azure DamselflyCoenagrion puella 40 Common Blue DamselflyEnallagma cyathigerum 44 Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma najas 47 Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans 49 Large Red DamselflyPyrrhosoma nymphula 5 Dragonflies Southern Hawker Aeshna cyanea 56 Brown Hawker Aeshna grandis 59 Common Hawker Aeshna juncea 62 Migrant Hawker Aeshna mixta 65 Emperor DragonflyAnax imperator 69 Lesser Emperor Anax parthenope 7 Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense 7 Golden-ringed DragonflyCordulegaster boltonii 74 Broad-bodied Chaser Libellula depressa 76 Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata 80 Black-tailed Skimmer Orthetrum cancellatum 8 Keeled Skimmer Orthetrum coerulescens 86 Black Darter Sympetrum danae 87 Yellow-winged Darter Sympetrum flaveolum 89 Red-veined Darter Sympetrum fonscolombii 91 Ruddy Darter Sympetrum sanguineum 9 Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum 96 Exotic species Oriental Scarlet Crocothemis servilia 100 References and local bibliography 101 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is the product of an exercise in ‘citizen science’ carried out over many years, and would have been impossible without the enthusiastic efforts of many people throughout Lancashire and North Merseyside, many of whom would not regard themselves as dragonfly specialists. More than 389 observers have contributed to the dataset used to produce this book, their contributions ranging from a single record to 241. Eighty of them submitted 50 or more records, contributing the bulk of material. These are listed below; those who contributed 200 or more records are highlighted in bold. Colin Adams, Rob Allen, Bill Aspin, Ray Banks, David Beattie, Jim Beattie, David Bentley, Bill Berry, JE Birchall, Michael Bird, Steve Birtwistle, Margaret Breaks, Mark Breaks, Ian Brodie, Tony Conway, Peter Clare, Tom Clare, Derek Cook, Bob Danson, Colin Davies, Margaret Dempsey, Chris Derri, Diana Downing, Barry Dyson, Keith Fairclough, Alex Fenton, G. Fernell, Michael Foley, Jean Foran, Geoff Gradwell, Paul Green, Bill Gregory, Richard Hall, John Hallsworth, Ken Haydock, Catherine Highfield, Allen Holmes, Peter Hornby, Peter I’Anson, Robert Ives, Maurice Jones, Phil Kirk, Philip Larkin, Helen Laycock, Sophie Leadsom, Robert Letsche, Kevin Lister, David Lumb, Pete Marsh, Steve Martin, Eugene McCann, Mark Memory, Jill Mills, Bob Murphy, Monty Myerscough, Kim Neal, Jennifer Newton, Jim Ormerod, Ernest Ormond, Dave Owen, Janet Packham, Dominic Rigby, Joyce Riley, Steve Ryder, N Sharrock, Paul Slater, Phil Smith, Neil Southworth, Richard Tanner, Stephen Taylor, Gavin Thomas, Steve Tomlinson, David Tucker, Colin Twist, Frank Walsh, Lindsay Ward, Mike Watson, Nora West, Steve White, Trevor Whitehead, Colin Whittle, John Wood and Steve Young. About 4000 records were gathered from various parts of Greater Manchester from a hundred or so recorders. Although these records have not been used for the book’s main analyses, some of them have been mapped, mainly in Bolton, Wigan and Salford. They provided valuable comparisons of dragonfly distribution in the two ‘counties’, especially for those habitats that are much more extensive in Greater Manchester – the extensive remnant raised bogs and the open water flashes of Wigan and Leigh. Thanks are due to Colin Adams, David Beattie, Michael Foley, Graham Jones, Pete Marsh, Steve Martin and Frank Walsh for their many invaluable comments on the species accounts and the maps. The detailed site descriptions in the introductory chapter were written by Colin Adams, David Beattie, Michael Foley, John Lamb, Pete Marsh, Reuben Neville, Steve Martin, Phil Smith, Paul Thomas, Frank Walsh and Steve White. The maps were produced by Ben Deed at Merseyside Biobank. Design and compilation of the publication by Dave Bickerton. Thanks are due to Steve Cross for providing copies of several papers from Liverpool Museum archives. 5 INTRODUCTION The Dragonfly Fauna of Lancashire & North Merseyside Twenty-four species have been recorded in the wild in Lancashire & North Merseyside (Table 1): eight damselflies (Zygoptera) and 16 dragonflies (Anisoptera). Nineteen species currently breed annually in the county, while one, Red-veined Darter, became established as a breeding species for several years early in the 21st century but now appears to have reverted to its previous vagrant status. Yellow-winged Darter has been recorded ovipositing on several occasions during its occasional influxes but none emerged in subsequent years, while Lesser Emperor has been suspected of breeding at Brockholes Wetland on the basis of a series of annual occurrences. However, only males have ever been seen there or elsewhere in the county, so the jury is out on this – although colonisation in the near future seems highly likely. The remaining two species, Beautiful Demoiselle and Keeled Skimmer have only been recorded on rare occasions as vagrants, although both are possible future colonists. Two additional species, Variable Damselfly Coenagrion pulchellum and Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense, have been claimed in recent years but neither has yet been confirmed. Both species are long- established in Cheshire, the former also breeding at a single site in Cumbria. There is a single record of a vagrant Hairy Dragonfly in Cumbria. One other species has been recorded, a single Oriental Scarlet Crocothemis servilia which emerged in an aquarium. Table 1. Species recorded in Lancashire & North Merseyside up to 2013. Species Status Emerald Damselfly Lestes sponsa Breeding Banded Demoiselle Calopteryx splendens Breeding Beautiful Demoiselle Calopteryx virgo Vagrant Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella Breeding Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum Breeding Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma najas Breeding Blue-Tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans Breeding Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula Breeding Southern Hawker Aeshna cyanea Breeding Brown Hawker Aeshna grandis Breeding Common Hawker Aeshna juncea Breeding Migrant Hawker Aeshna mixta Breeding Emperor Dragonfly Anax imperator Breeding Lesser Emperor Anax parthenope Possibly bred Golden-ringed Dragonfly Cordulegaster boltonii Breeding Broad-Bodied Chaser Libellula depressa Breeding Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata Breeding Black-Tailed Skimmer Orthetrum cancellatum Breeding Keeled Skimmer Orthetrum coerulescens Vagrant Black Darter Sympetrum danae Breeding Yellow-winged Darter Sympetrum flaveolum Attempted breeding Red-Veined Darter Sympetrum fonscolombii Has bred Ruddy Darter Sympetrum sanguineum Breeding Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum Breeding 6 The county’s 24 species represent only 43% of the total recorded in Britain. Many of the ‘missing’ species are scarce-habitat specialists that seem unlikely to reach Lancashire, at least for some considerable time. Some, however, may arrive within a shorter time frame. Climate change has led to the colonisation of southern England by two continental damselflies, Willow Emerald DamselflyChalcolestes viridis and Small Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma viridulum, both of which have been spreading to the north and west. The counties to the south and north of us have recorded more species, 0 in Cheshire (http://www. brocross.com/dfly/dfly.htm) and 29 in Cumbria (D. Clarke pers. comm.). Both counties support scarce breeding species that have never been recorded in Lancashire. Common to both Cheshire and Cumbria are Downy Emerald Cordulia aenea and White-faced Darter Leucorrhinia dubia, the latter currently the subject of reintroduction measures in both counties. Neither seems a likely candidate to cross our bound- aries as both are rather sedentary and habitat-restricted. The status of all of Lancashire’s breeding species seems secure with the exception of the Ruddy Darter which, worryingly, seems to have disappeared from a number of sites in recent years and may before long be confined to the Sefton Coast. Table 2 compares the assessment of trends in the distribution of Lancashire’s breeding species with those of Great Britain and Ireland. These comparisons need to be viewed with caution as the Lancashire trends have mostly been assessed subjectively, while the national ones come from a more robust statistical analysis. In most cases Lancashire matches the national picture but in several instances the trends here appear to be more positive. Table 2. Changes in distribution of breeding species in Great Britain & Ireland (from Cham et al 2014), and in Lancashire & North Merseyside. Species GB & I distribution Lancashire trend distribution trend Emerald Damselfly Lestes sponsa Decrease Stable Banded Demoiselle