may be 'wanderers' from these areas which occasionally turn up in Essex. The first of
these to be recorded was caught by E. B. Pinniger near Loughton in July 1930 (Pinniger
1933). Another, a male, was picked up alive in Romford in July 1983 by P. Faithfull. The
specimen was retained. There are several other reports of sightings of singletons (for
example. P. A. Smith, Epping Forest. 1970, B.R.C. and C. W. Plant, Claverhambury.
1980, pers, comm.), but subsequent visits to these sites yielded no more sightings, and
there appears to be no locally suitable habitat. It seems unlikely that this species is, or
ever was, a breeding species in Essex.
Cordulia aenea (Linne, 1758) Downy Emerald
This is the smallest of the group of 'emerald' dragonflies and the only one which
occurs in Essex. It is about the size of the larger darter dragonflies, but in behaviour it
resembles the hawkers, regularly patrolling a beat along the margin of a pond or lake.
They fly more-or-less continuously during sunshine, and rest in trees (if these are
available) in cloudy or wet weather. In spite of the vernacular name, only the head and
thorax is bright green, the thorax (in both sexes) being so dark as to appear almost black
in mature adults. Cordulia aenea has an oddly discontinuous distribution in Britain,
with its main concentration in southern England, together with a few very widely
separated outposts in the North and Scotland. The flight period is from the beginning of
June until the last week of July.
The species has been more-or-less continuously recorded in the Epping Forest area
since it first appeared on E. Doubleday's (1835) list. According to him, it then occurred
'in profusion". J. F. Stephens (1835-7) also gave Epping as a locality for C. aenea and
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