Dragonfly Atlas Project 2008-2012
The Cotswold Water Park Dragonfly Atlas Project 2008-2012
is being launched in Spring 2008 to survey, record and map the distribution of dragonflies and damselflies across the CWP.
Key Facts
- The project will culminate in the publication of the first Cotswold Water Park Dragonfly Atlas comprising an excellent baseline survey for the area.
- The published Atlas will also comprise a useful snap-shot of the current range of our dragonfly species, at a time when new species are beginning to colonise and when the area of mineral extraction and habitat creation/restoration continues to grow and mature.
- All data collected will be made available to the county biological records centres (Gloucestershire Centre for Environmental Records and Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre) as well as the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire county recorders.
- Interested in helping? If you have experience of undertaking dragonfly surveys and would like to get involved, please get in contact with us.
CWP Dragonfly Atlas Project
The CWP Dragonfly Atlas Project was launched on Sunday 4th May 2008 at Lower Moor Farm (Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Reserve), near Oaksey. This project is a partnership project with the British Dragonfly Society’s National Dragonfly Atlas Project - 2008 to 2013.
2010 Update
A huge thank you to the superb team of surveyors generating data for the Atlas Project. In excess of 60 surveys have been undertaken in 2010 alone across the CWP, on numerous lakes, rivers and wetlands. 2010 highlights include:
1. Another new breeding site for the nationally scarce Downy Emerald near Fairford, with mating and ovipositing observed,
2. Baseline surveys undertaken for new reedbeds and marsh at Cleveland Lakes Reserve,
3. Extensive lengths of the Rivers Thames and Coln surveyed for the first time.
4. The discovery of new Water Vole colonies on the River Thames, and photographs of young ones, during dragonfly surveys at Lechlade were an added bonus for the observer!
The Atlas project is well on course to achieving full survey coverage but much survey effort is still required in the next few years! If you’d like to get involved for the first time, please contact me. If you’d like to do more surveys, please let me know!
Gareth Harris, Biodiversity Officer, Cotswold Water Park Society (December 2010)
Mid Season Update: July 2008
A huge thank you to the team of observers contributing to the Atlas Project so far! A number of new species and populations have been discovered already, including;
1. Two populations of Beautiful Demoiselle (first records in the CWP since 2000),
2. Hairy Dragonfly in May 2008 (first record for CWP),
3. Keeled Skimmer in July 2008 (first record for CWP, photographs taken by C & I Twissell and confirmed by Steve Cham of British Dragonfly Society)
Furthermore, 2 new population of the nationally scarce Downy Emerald have also been recorded, indicating an expansion in range within the CWP from core sites.
We look forward to more records coming in as the season progresses! Please keep an eye out for species such as Red Veined Darter and Small Red-eyed Damselfly, which although found breeding close to the CWP, are yet to be recorded here.
Happy recording!
GH. Biodiversity Officer, Cotswold Water Park Society.
Monday 14th July 2008
Introduction
Dragonfly recording in the Cotswold Water Park (CWP) to date has been sporadic and often lacking, although recording effort in recent years has increased significantly through the efforts of the Cotswold Water Park Society and the Wiltshire Dragonfly Recorder, Steve Covey and several local enthusiasts.
The CWP is known to support over 20 species of dragonfly, with breeding presumed or confirmed for all of these species in the past 5 years. Notably, Lesser Emperors were observed ovipositing in 2006 and a newly emerged male was observed in 2007.
With the launch of the National Dragonfly Atlas Project (NDAP) in 2008 there is an opportunity to promote dragonfly recording in the CWP to input the NDAP whilst using the data to achieve the first dragonfly atlas for the CWP and also feeding into the Wiltshire Dragonfly Atlas.
Surveys will be undertaken by tetrad (39 tetrads in the CWP); within each tetrad, a minimum of 3 visits will be required at core survey sites, whilst additional surveys will be undertaken at additional sites to ensure survey of all appropriate habitats within the tetrad. Further details regarding the methodology employed will be found on the Cotswold Water Park Society website.
We are looking for competent dragonfly observers to assist with these surveys, to take responsibility for surveys within a tetrad. Help and guidance will be given and landowners will be contacted for you. We will be organising some training events during the spring for interested observers.
Further information and downloads
For further information on the surveys, download Dragonfly Atlas Surveys Information
Download the RA83 Dragonfly Recording Form
For further details on the CWP Dragonfly Atlas Project, please contact:
Gareth Harris, Biodiversity Officer, Cotswold Water Park Society
Gareth.harris@waterpark.org
Ingrid Twissell, Gloucestershire Dragonfly Recorder
canditwissell@btinternet.com
Steve Covey, Wiltshire Dragonfly recorder
steve.covey@ntlworld.com
For more details on the National Dragonfly Atlas Project (NDAP), see http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/nationalatlas.html
For further information regarding the Wiltshire Dragonfly Atlas Project see http://www.wiltshiredragonflies.org.uk/
For further information regarding Dragonflies and other biological recording in Gloucestershire, see http://www.glosnats.org.uk/index.htm
Last updated: 12th March 2008
