DRAGONFLIES

DRAGONS WaterIRELAND’S DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES BY DAVE WALL

To say that dragon ies and damsel ies have a long history would be a bit of an understatement. e earliest dragon y ancestors pre-dated the dinosaurs, going back 350 million years! ese ancestors-of-dragon ies included the largest winged insects that ever lived, with a nearly one metre wingspan! Dragonflies and damsel ies that resembled the ones we know today appeared on the scene a mere 250 million years ago.

Historically known as ‘devil’s darning needles’, they were associated with evil in many European cultures and were reputed to sew up the mouths or eyes of naughty children! We now know that dragon ies and damsel ies are totally harmless to humans. ey are, however, a supremely e ective predator of ying insects, feed on a range of species including midges, mosquitos, ies, wasps, butter ies, and other dragon ies and damsel ies. anks to their amazing eyesight and superior ight control, they have an incredible 95% success rate when hunting.

Dragon ies and damsel ies are charismatic insects that are easily recognised by their large size and dazzling body colours.

Downy Emerald by Donna Rainey Large Red Damselfly by Gerry Fitzmaurice Common Hawker by Kevin Collins

This makes them a good target for biological recording. They are primarily an aquatic species, spending one to five years as aquatic nymphs before emerging for a brief adult phase lasting a few days to a few months, depending on species. Because most of their lifespan is aquatic, their presence at freshwater sites can provide a useful indicator of water quality. Some species also have specific habitat and climate requirements which make them potential bio-indicators of habitat quality and climate change.

Ireland has 11 species of damselfly and 15 species of dragonfly that may be considered resident. There are another four species which are vagrant and three that have been recorded historically. With climate change, dragonfly species distributions are on the move and there is always the potential for new species to become established.

Threats to Dragonflies and Damselflies

Globally, at least one in ten dragonfly and damselfly species are threatened with extinction. In the last assessment of the conservation status of the species that may be considered resident in Ireland, four species were assessed as threatened and one as near threatened. However, it is almost 20 years since the last major survey of dragonflies and damselflies in Ireland and new data is required for a fresh assessment of their conservation status. The main conservation threats facing Irish dragonflies and damselflies are habitat loss and water pollution.

Dragonfly Ireland 2019 – 2024

Dragonfly Ireland 2019-2024 is an all-Ireland project to map dragonfly and damselfly distribution and to assess their value as bio-indicators of climate change and habitat quality. The project is conducted in partnership with the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording in Northern Ireland (CEDaR) and funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. The project's goals include creating an updated atlas of dragonflies and damselflies for Ireland and highlighting the issues of climate change and water quality for the public.

Participation in the project is available at three levels, depending on your availability, experience, and interest level.

Dragonfly Spotter is our entry level survey and enables you to record casual sightings when out and about near freshwater habitats. No matter where you are or what you are doing you can always submit a dragonfly or damselfly species record via our online recording form or the Biodiversity App. Please include a photo of the animal, or description of the identifying features observed, to help us validate your record.

Dragonfly Recorder is the next survey level and asks you to record all species at a given site twice per annum and note a few details on habitat quality. Each site is surveyed once between late May and the end of June, and again between July and early September. This is to cover the flight period of all the Irish dragonfly and damselfly species. The habitat survey is simple, requiring you only to tick the features listed which you observe at the site and takes two minutes to complete. You can survey as many or as few sites as you like and all details on how to take part are available on the project web pages on biodiversityireland. ie.

Dragonfly Monitor is the third survey level and is essentially the same as the Dragonfly Recorder survey but with four surveys at each site per annum.

Since 2019 the project has validated 12,000 records of 30 dragonfly and damselfly species. Already these data have allowed us to explore how dragonfly and damselfly distributions have changed since the last major survey was conducted in 2000-2003. Some of the most obvious changes have been to the distribution of species that were recent arrivals to Ireland at the time of the 2000-2003 survey. These include the migrant hawker and the emperor dragonfly, whose distribution was very much limited to the south and south-east coasts in 2000-2003. In the intervening 20 years, their range has expanded north-westwards across Ireland, as far north as Belfast and as far west as Galway. Range expansion in these two species is linked to global warming.

We are delighted at the response to the project so far and that so many people have taken up the chance to record their local dragonflies and damselflies. However we always need additional recorders and records to improve our knowledge of species distribution.

To get involved in the project please visit our web pages at https://biodiversityireland.ie/surveys/dragonfly-ireland/ or sign up for our countrywide training workshops at https://biodiversityireland.ie/workshops/