Facing a warming climate, many dragonfly and damselfly species are changing their geographic range, with new species moving further inland from warmer coastal areas and others arriving from the continent. So far, we have recorded 23 different species of around our land-locked, but low-lying and pretty wet airport. That is six fewer than the best-performing Sussex Wildlife Trust nature reserve Rye Harbour (29 species). The nearby Knepp Wildlands site hit 23 species in around 2019, but they have surely passed that total now.
Bob Foreman from the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre kindly provided me with the top ten league table for Sussex Wildlife Trust reserves. As you can see, we might be on par with the Ebernoe reserve for the moment:
This summer just past I was repeating a baseline survey of all the waterways previously surveyed around Gatwick during 2013. We have gained a few new ponds since that last baseline, so I was really looking forward to getting stuck in and seeing how fortunes may have changed for our dragons. Results were a bit of a mixed bag, with only 20 different species observed (I was missing Ruddy Darter Sympetrum sanguineum, Golden-ringed Dragonfly Cordulegaster boltonii and Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma najas). The only new record for the site has been Small Red-eyed Damselfly, and nothing particularly rare or unusual turned up except for a tantalising glimpse of Brilliant Emerald Dragonfly Somatochlora metallica (although there were plenty of similar-looking Downy Emerald Dragonflies about).
Here are a few of my highlights from the 2022 field season:
