through the Forest. W. H. Harwood (1903) believed it to be 'now a rarity in the county.
quoting Doubleday as evidence that it had once been less uncommon. He said a single
specimen was captured in High Woods, Colchester, several years ago', but no others had
since been seen. However, it appeared regularly on the Campions' lists for the Forest,
and was listed by E. E. Syms (1929). C. O. Hammond recorded it regularly between 1925
and 1945 in the Forest whilst E. B. Pinniger (1933) noted its 'abundance' there. C.
Longfield (1949b) said it was found at 'nearly all' the ponds in Epping Forest and was
one of the first species to colonise war-time bomb craters in and around London.
Pinniger, Syms and Ward (1950) gave Chingford Plain (bomb-craters), Monk Wood.
Coopersale Common, Benfleet (C. O. Hammond also recorded it there in 1937),
Hatfield Forest, and Hainault Forest, and Longfield (1949b) also gave Brentwood as a
locality for it. There are also two of B. T. Ward's specimens taken at Grays in 1950 at the
Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge Museum.
Today the species is widespread and common, if somewhat local, across south,
central and north-east Essex. Like several other species, it appears to be absent from the
north-west of the county. It has been recorded from thirty-one (out of a possible fifty-
seven) 10 km. squares in Essex since 1980.
Cordulegaster boltonii (Donovan, 1807) Golden-ringed Dragonfly
This large hawker, with its gold-ringed black abdomen, is easily recognised in the
field. In Britain, it is mainly a western and northern species, almost entirely absent from
East Anglia and the East Midlands. It does, however, occur in Kent and Surrey, and it
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