Page 4 - Wildlife News August 2017

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Golden-ringed dragonfly.
(ANDY FAIRBAIRN)

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Seek and you will find. High summer is peak time for dragon and damselflies.
Then as summer wanes it’s time to track down the joyous Chiltern gentian

searching for dragons by Debbie Lewis, Ecology Manager

You creep forward slowly, quietly, gently part the bracken fronds summer smaller ruddy darters may be glimpsed basking on the
and there it is... the dragon you’ve been ever so carefully stalking. warm boardwalk, wings outstretched, soaking up the rays. The
But this isn’t a fire-breathing dragon found in storybooks. What males are brilliant red.
you have tracked down is a dragonfly. Take a moment to stand perfectly still and you’ll find that many
Dragonflies and their close cousins the damselflies are easily dragonflies, such as the nosy southern hawker will come right up
found on hot summer days, zipping up and down ponds and streams. close to check you out. Some species return to the same perching
Wildmoor Heath, near Crowthorne, Berkshire is a great place to point above the water, so watch patiently.
see nature’s very own dragons up close and personal. Much of the Of course, you needn’t make a special trip to see dragonflies.
reserve is made up of dry, sandy soils topped with the hazy purple On hot sunny days almost any pond or stream will have numerous
flowers of heather. Yet walk down from the higher, drier slopes and small, flighty common blue damselflies, flitting in and out of the
you will discover a long stretch of wooden boardwalk that carries surrounding vegetation. So what are you waiting for? Now is the
the intrepid dragon hunter right into dragon heartland! time to set out on your own dragon-hunting adventure.
Dragonflies spend much of their life down in the depths of the
murky waters as larvae. These voracious carnivores eat just about The wetter areas of Wildmoor Heath are prime territory for dragon and damselflies.
anything smaller than them, including other larvae and even small (KATE DENT)
fish. When the time is right, sometimes years later, the larvae crawl
out of the water using the plants growing on the water’s edge to Ruddy darter. (KATE DENT)
emerge as magnificent, colourful adults.
Airborne adults are astoundingly agile on the wing and can
move all four of their wings independently, which allows them
to not only hover mid-air but even fly backwards. This agility is
essential to enable the adults to mate, lay their eggs and catch
prey (usually other flying insects).
Dragon and damselflies come in a range of colours and sizes;
at Wildmoor you’ll see species that thrive on heathland. The
large golden-ringed dragonfly is one of the easiest to spot. In late

4 Wildlife news / August 2017