During the period of the present survey, E. najas has continued to be observed at
several sites in Epping Forest by E. P. Ryan and others, as well as on the Old River Lee
and Cornmill Stream near Waltham Abbey, and at Hatfield Forest. It seems to have
been lost from the Chelmer/Blackwater, and there have been no further records from
Dagnam Park or Fingringhoe Wick. However, new sites continue to be found in various
parts of the county. These include two flooded pits in the north-east, a short stretch of
the Stour within the Glemsford Pits S.S.S.I. in the north, the Stort Navigation in the
west, and Weald Park, Brentwood in the south-west. The species has a discontinuous,
mainly western distribution. It occurs in only thirteen 10 km. squares in the county, and
is extremely localised within this range. The same is true of its distribution in adjacent
counties. Wherever E. najas occurs its habitat should be carefully conserved.
Brachytron pratense (Muller, 1764) Hairy Dragonfly
As the name suggests, this is our hairiest species of dragonfly. Both sexes are hairy on
the thorax, the female being hairy along the length of the abdomen, too. This
characteristic does not, however, show up when the species is observed at some distance
in the field. Superficially, its markings (dark brown with yellow or blue and yellow spots
and bands on the abdomen) resemble those of several of the hawker dragonflies of the
genus Aeshna - especially Aeshna mixta. However, it is significantly smaller than any of
these other species, and is the only species of hawker with this pattern of markings
which is on the wing in early Spring. Its flight period is from mid-May till about the end
of June.
Brachytron pratense has a wide distribution throughout Europe and into Asia Minor,
but in this country it is extremely local. It is essentially a species of the broads, fens and
coastal 'levels', and the combined effects of pollution, drainage, and changes of land-
use have led to its increasing scarcity.
In Essex it appears to have always been extremely scarce and local. It appeared under
the name Aeshna teretiuscula on Edward Doubleday's (1835) list, and J. F. Stephens
(1835-7) also gave Epping as a locality for it. Henry Doubleday (1871) reported it as
'common over ponds by the side of Park Hall Woods and other places', whilst W. H.
Harwood (1903) claimed that it was 'widely distributed but seldom met with'. He added
Colchester and St. Osyth to the Doubledays' Epping localities. The Campions observed
it in the Forest in 1906. 1907 and 1909. and W. J. Lucas saw it there in 1926 (Pinniger.
1933). Hammond's unpublished notes include reference to it at Baldwins Hill Pond, the
Wake Valley Pond and one other pond in the Forest in 1923-6 and 1928. But the species
does not appear to have been very much in evidence in the Forest, since Pinniger (1933)
was unable to find it before that date. It was first seen by him 'in some numbers' in 1933
(Pinniger, 1934b). and was reported to be 'very common' in June 1934 (Pinniger 1935).
Although C. Longfield (1949b) gave Epping Forest as a locality for the species, I can find
no detailed reports of any particular sighting in the Forest after 1934.
The only subsequent reports of the species in Essex were: the Chelmer/Blackwater
Navigation, near Little Baddow from 1940 to 1960. where it was observed by D. A.
Ashwell (B.R.C.); Benfleet, where it was 'possibly' seen by E. B. Pinniger in 1949
(Pinniger. Syms and Ward, 1950); and Langenhoe Marsh, near Colchester, where it was
recorded by A. C. Warne on 17.6.1975. During the course of the present survey several
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