specimen of S. danae was seen, confirming his earlier comment on the liability of this species to
fluctuate in numbers from year to year. The Rivers Lee and Roding were quoted as sites for C.
splendens, but C. virgo was not seen. In the same volume of the London Naturalist (Pinniger. 1934b)
Pinniger discussed the puzzling status of A. mixta in the Forest. Despite several searches in 1933 he
had 'failed to produce any definite evidence' about this species. It will be remembered that
Hammond's unpublished notes contain no Forest record of A. mixta until 1937.
Pinniger's dragonfly notes for 1934 (Pinniger. 1935) included reports from the marshes on the
River Lee below Chingford, the river Roding (where P. pennipes was found). Hainault Forest, and
'the Essex Marshes', as well as a more detailed report on Epping Forest. The Hainault Forest report
is notable for the discovery of Orthetrum cancellatum, as Pinniger suggested, probably the first
record of this species in the county. Lestes dryas was said to still persist 'in a favoured spot on the
Essex Marshes', whilst B. pratense was now reported as 'very common' in Epping Forest. At last
Pinniger was able to report his own sighting of A. mixta on Sept. 8th. 1935 (Pinniger. 1936) in the
Forest. Lestes dryas was a subject of attention in the report for 1936. Formerly considered a great
rarity, the species was found 'in considerable numbers' in the 'salt marshes of the River Thames',
and was also seen at Southend and. 'in numbers' at Burnham in Essex. The report for 1937
(Pinniger. 1938) gave A. mixta as common in the Forest, and there was a further report (via K. M.
Guichard) of O. cancellatum, at Mill Hill. Benfleet was given as a locality for L. dryas (both Pinniger
and Hammond gave July 18th as the date, but their lists for the day differ in other respects), as well
as S. sanguineum, A. imperator and L. depressa.
In 1935 discussions took place which resulted in the formation of an Ecology Section of the
London Natural History Society and in 1936 Pinniger, now chairman of the Chingford branch of
the Society reported on the consideration by the branch of the possibility of future ecological work
on the forest. The idea took some time to be translated into practice, but the Chingford branch's
survey of the Cuckoo Pits area of the Forest eventually started in March 1942. The London
Naturalist for 1942 indicated that the Odonata had been studied, but no details were given.
However, draft notes by Pinniger dating from 1942 give details of fifteen species of Odonata
observed from the survey area in that year. These include one new record for the forest - Orthetrum
cancellatum - one female of which was seen on 27th June. Pinniger noted, in the version of the
report eventually published (Pinniger. 1945) in the London Naturalist for 1944. that the species may
breed in the newly formed bomb craters (outside the survey-area as strictly defined). Another
species given as breeding in these craters was Libellula depressa. A letter from Cynthia Longfield to
Pinniger (now in the Epping Forest Conservation Centre) dated Sept. 11th. 1943 also reported Anax
imperator and Sympetrum striolatum from the bomb crater area. In her later (Longfield. 1949b)
publication on the Dragonflies of the London area Longfield noted how 'exceedingly quickly' the
dragonflies colonised these bomb craters. The Cuckoo Pits themselves were former gravel pits, but
even during the three years from 1942 to 1944 with which the published report deals they had
become noticeably drier, so that only one pond had significant standing water through the summer
of 1944. Only eight of the fifteen species recorded were of confirmed breeding status in the Pits
themselves.
The 1940s: Essex Beyond Epping Forest
The publication of Cynthia Longfield's classic work on the Dragonflies of the British Isles
(Longfield. 1937) stimulated a much wider interest in the study of dragonflies, and this, together
with the growth of local natural history societies gave rise to a steady expansion of reports on
dragonflies in Essex outside the much favoured areas of Epping Forest and the London fringe. The
Bishops Stortford naturalist. D. A. Ashwell, made a study of the dragonflies of Hatfield Forest
between 1935 and 1945 (J. Fielding, pers. comm.), recording eighteen species during that period. I
have managed to locate extant specimens of fifteen of these in the collections of the B.M. (N.H.)
and the C.E.M. These all date from the years 1939 to 1942. and include two specimens (9.6.1940 and
1 7.1940) of Cordulia aenea captured in Hatfield Forest These are the only evidence of an Essex
colony of this species outside Epping Forest this century. Aeshna mixta. Orthetrum cancellatum and
Sympetrum sanguineum all appear on Ashwell's list for this period, as does Lestes dryas, though I
have heen unable to locate a surviving specimen of this species. Another remarkable record for the
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