Rare River Dragon in Danger
11th May 2020
The British Dragon Fly Society have recently published a report on their three year citizen science project to hunt for and map populations of the rather misleadingly named Common Clubtail Dragonfly. Funded by CCF member Natural England along with Scottish Natural Heritage, the project included 3 years of data collection and involved over 180 volunteers surveying over 200 miles of rivers in England and Wales looking for the rare Common Clubtail dragonfly.
Results varied dramatically from river to river; for example, while the species was found to be widespread on the River Severn it appears to have been lost from the River Avon.
There are concerns that the loss of Common Clubtail from such rivers is an indication of systemic underlying ecological health issues, such as water pollution. You can find out more about the project on the BDS website here, and the full press release is below.
