Dragonfly and Damselfly monitoring on the Writtle College estate - the first five years
preference appears to be related to oviposition requirements, although no particular species of
plant is selected for egg laying purposes (Gibbons & Pain 1992). This species was also observed
in unfavourable habitats on the estate such as amenity grassland and roadside verge.
In contrast to C. splendens, I. elegans became less common over the monitoring period (Fig. 2).
This species is classified as one of the most common Dragonflies in southern and central England
(Merritt et al. 1996), so the severe decline in abundance which has occurred on the estate is of
particular concern. Monitoring of Odonata is to continue on the College estate to detect long-term
trends in species abundance and determine conservation measures to be implemented if necessary.
References
BENTON, E. (1988) The dragonflies of Essex. London: Essex Field Club.
BROOKS, S.J. (1993) Review of a method to monitor adult dragonfly populations. Journal of the British
Dragonfly Society 9: 1-4.
BROOKS, S.J. (1 997) Field guide to the dragon/lies and damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland.
Rotherwick: British Wildlife Publishing.
GIBBONS, D.W. & Pain, D. (1992) The influence of river flow rate on the breeding behaviour of
Calopteryx damselflies. Journal of Animal Ecology 61: 283-289.
MERRITT, R„ MOORE, N.W. & EVERSHAM, B.C. (1996) Atlas of the dragonflies of Britain and
Ireland. London: HMSO.
MOORE, N.W. & CORBET, PS. (1990) Guidelines for monitoring dragonfly populations. Journal of the
British Dragonfly Society 6: 21-23.
NEATE, D.J.M. (1979) Wildlife and landscape survey. Writtle: Writtle College.
POLLARD, E. & YATES, T.J. (1993) Monitoring butterflies for ecology and conservation. London:
Chapman & Hall.
SELLERS, E.K& FIELD, R.G. (1997) Butterfly monitormg survey 1996. Writtle: Writtle College.
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 19 (2002)