J. Br. Dragonfly Society, Volume 26 No. 2, October 2010 Journal of the CONTENTS DAVID CHELMICK - Studying British dragonflies in the British Dragonfly Society 1970s: the wilderness years .............................................. 57 Volume 26 Number 2 October 2010 BARRY NATTRESS - Folding wing behaviour in Cordulagaster boltonii (Donovan) ............................................................. 64 DAVID CHELMICK - Species Review 4: The Scarce Emerald Damselfly Lestes dryas Kirby with notes on the family Lestidae in the Western Palearctic ....................................66 JONATHAN. R. DIXON & DOROTHY E. GENNARD - The influence of meteorological conditions on the flight activity of the Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans (Vander Linden), the Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella (Linnaeus) and the Emerald Damselfly Lestes sponsa (Hansemann) ..... .............................................................................................. 83 ADRIAN J. PARR -. Migrant and dispersive dragonflies in Britain during 2009 ............................................................97 PAM TAYLOR & DAVE SMALLSHIRE - A change in status of the Dainty Damselfly Coenagrion scitulum (Rambur) in the United Kingdom ………....................................................107 Corrigendum ..........................................................................i The aims of the British Dragonfly Society (BDS) are to promote and encourage the study and conservation INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS of Odonata and their natural habitats, especially in the United Kingdom. • Authors are asked to study these instructions with care and to prepare their manuscripts The Journal of the British Dragonfly Society, published twice a year, contains articles on Odonata that have accordingly, in order to avoid unnecessary delay in the editing of their manuscripts. been recorded from the United Kingdom and articles on European Odonata written by members of the Soci- • Word processed manuscripts may be submitted in electronic form either on disk or by e-mail. ety. • Manuscripts should be one and a half spaced, on one side of the page only and with margins of at least 25mm on both sides and top and bottom. Footnotes should be avoided. Articles for publication should be sent to the Editor. Instructions for authors appear inside the back cover. • Use of these terms is acceptable: ‘exuvia’ for cast skin (plural: ‘exuviae’); ‘larva’ (instead of ‘naiad’ or ‘nymph’); ‘prolarva’ to designate the first larval instar. • Dates in the text should be expressed in the form: 24 July 2010. Trustees of the British Dragonfly Society Journal Advisory Panel: • References cited in the text should be in the form ‘(Longfield, 1949)’ or ‘...as noted by Longfield Chairman: P.Taylor T.G. Beynon (1949)’. All references cited in the text (and only these) should be listed alphabetically at the end Vice-Chairman: D.E. Gennard S.J. Brooks of the article in the following forms: Secretary: H.G. Curry D. Mann Hammond, C.O. 1983. The Dragonflies of Great Britain and Ireland 2nd Edition (revised by Treasurer: B.J. Walker J. Pickup R. Merritt), Harley Books, Colchester, 116pp. Convenor of the Dragonfly ConservationGroup: D. Smallshire Longfield, C. 1949.The Dragonflies of the London area. The London Naturalist 28: 90-98. Back numbers of the Journal can be purchased • Titles of journals should be written out in full. Ordinary Trustees • Tables should be presented on separate, unnumbered pages. S.C. Davidson from the Librarian / Archivist at £2.75 per copy to members or £5.50 per copy to non-members. • Legends for figures should be presented together in sequence on a single, unnumbered page. • A. Nelson • Figures should be prepared in black and scaled to allow a reduction of 1.5 to 3 times. M.P. Tyrrell • The legend for each table and illustration should allow its contents to be understood fully without reference to the text. Please refer to a recent issue of the journal for further style details. Species Reviews: The fourth species review appears in this issue. Others are in the process SCIENTIFIC AND ENGLISH NAMES OF BRITISH ODONATA of being written so if anyone is considering ADDRESSES writing a review of their favourite species, ZYGOPTERA DAMSELFLIES Aeshna juncea Common Hawker please contact the Editor first. Calopteryx splendens Banded Demoislle Aeshna mixta Migrant Hawker Editor: Calopteryx virgo Beautiful Demoiselle Anax ephippiger Vagrant Emperor P.J. Mill Lestes barbarus Southern Emerald Damselfly Anax imperator Emperor Dragonfly Ordinary membership subscription £15.00 Lestes dryas Scarce Emerald Damselfly Anax junius Green Darner 8 Cookridge Grove Lestes sponsa Emerald Damselfly Anax parthenope Lesser Emperor Overseas subscription £20.00 Leeds, LS16 7LH Lestes viridis Willow Emerald Damselfly Brachytron pratense Hairy Dragonfly All subscriptions are due 1 April each year. Sympecma fusca Winter Damselfly Gomphus flavipes Yellow-legged Clubtail e-mail: [email protected] Coenagrion armatum Norfolk Damselfly Gomphus vulgatissimus Common Club-tail Other subscription rates (library, corporate) on Coenagrion hastulatum Northern Damselfly Cordulegaster boltonii Gold-ringed Dragonfly Secretary: Coenagrion lanulatum Irish Damselfly Cordulia aenea Downy Emerald application to the Membership Secretary, who H.G. Curry Coenagrion mercuriale Southern Damselfly Somatochlora arctica Northern Emerald will also deal with membership enquiries. Coenagrion puella Azure Damselfly Somatochlora metallica Brilliant Emerald 23 Bowker Way Coenagrion pulchellum Variable Damselfly Oxygastra curtisii Orange-spotted Emerald Whittlesey Coanagrion scitulum Dainty Damselfly Leucorrhinia dubia White-faced Darter BDS Website: www.dragonflysoc.org.uk Erythromma najas Red-eyed Damselfly Leucorrhinia pectoralis Large White-faced Darter Peterborough, PE7 1PY Erythromma viridulum Small Red-eyed Damselfly Libellula depressa Broad-bodied Chaser e-mail: [email protected] Pyrrhosoma nymphula Large Red Damselfly Libellula fulva Scarce Chaser Enallagma cyathigerum Common Blue Damselfly Libellula quadrimaculata Four-spotted Chaser Ischnura elegans Blue-tailed Damselfly Orthetrum cancellatum Black-tailed Skimmer Librarian / Archivist: Ischnura pumilio Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly Orthetrum coerulescens Keeled Skimmer D. Goddard Ceriagrion tenellum Small Red Damselfly Crocothemis erythraea Scarlet Darter 30 Cliffe Hill Avenue Platycnemis pennipes White-legged Damselfly Sympetrum danae Black Darter Cover Illustration: : Larva of Lestes dryas. Stapleford Sympetrum flaveolum Yellow-winged Darter Photograph by Robert Thompson. ANISOPTERA DRAGONFLIES Sympetrum fonscolombii Red-veined Darter Nottingham, NG9 7HD Aeshna affinis Southern Migrant Hawker Sympetrum pedomontanum Banded Darter e-mail: [email protected] Aeshna caerulea Azure Hawker Sympetrum sanguineum Ruddy Darter Aeshna cyanea Southern Hawker Sympterum striolatum* Common Darter* Aeshna grandis Brown Hawker Sympetrum vulgatum Vagrant Darter Membership Secretary Aeshna isosceles Norfolk Hawker Pantala flavescens Wandering Glider L. Curry The Journal of the British Dragonfly Society is 23 Bowker Way * Includes dark specimens in the north-west formerly treated as a separate species, Sympetrum nigrescens Highland Darter. printed by Artisan Litho, Abingdon, Oxford. Whittlesey www.artisanlitho.co.uk Species list in accordance with Davies, D.A.L. & Tobin, P. (1984 & 1985) The Dragonflies of the World: A systematic list of the extant species of Peterborough, PE7 1PY Odonata. Vols 1 & 2. e-mail: [email protected] Registered Charity No. 800196 J. Br. Dragonfly Society, Volume 26 No. 2, 2010 57 Studying British dragonflies in the 1970s: the wilderness years David Chelmick Macromia Scientific, 31 High Beech Lane, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 1SQ. [email protected] Moore (2010) has provided an interesting account of dragonfly recording in the UK prior to the formation of the British Dragonfly Society in 1983. Progressing from his own introduction to dragonflies throughout the middle decades of the century, Moore then outlines the development of Societas Internationalis Odonatologica (SIO) culminating with its first UK meeting in 1975. Merritt et al., (1996) detailed the early history of the Dragonfly Recording Scheme and in particular the first meeting of British dragonfly recorders in April 1979. There are, however, significant gaps in both accounts which, as an odonatologist now in advancing years, are perhaps worthy of recount. I came to dragonflies in the late 1960s when, quite by chance, I spent a week as a volunteer warden at Arne Nature Reserve in Dorset; I really wanted to go to Mimsmere but they were full! Bryan Pickess was the warden at Arne, he introduced me to dragonflies having, quite rightly, spotted that I would never make it as a birdwatcher. I often wonder what would have happened had I gone to Mimsmere! It is hard for people today to understand just how difficult it was in the 1970s to study dragonflies. Moore (2010) outlines the problems of identification which can be even better summarised by the Royal Entomological Society’s identification handbook for Odonata (Fraser 1949), a beautifully illustrated publication with detailed drawings of anal appendages and wing venation but hardly a single picture of the complete insect. European books were similarly blighted and with few illustrations. In summary all the books were written by entomologists for entomologists with no thought for the field naturalist. One book, however,