EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 6: Nature Topic Box 6.6 Dragonfly Ireland: Monitoring Dragonflies, Habitats and Water Quality Using Citizen Science The NBDC, with support from the EPA, developed the Dragonfly Ireland 2019-2024 survey. The goal of this citizen science survey is to produce an updated Dragonfly and Damselfly Atlas for Ireland. This is a key motivator for citizen scientists who want to participate and contribute to our understanding and protection of these species. The project is also examining the use of dragonflies and damselflies as indicators of freshwater habitat and water quality. The survey relies on volunteers to collect information on dragonflies and damselflies in freshwater habitats across Ireland. Three levels of survey are available to participants, to facilitate as wide a range of volunteer experiences as possible. These are the Dragonfly Spotter, which facilitates and encourages the collection of casual dragonfly and damselfly records; the intermediate Dragonfly Recorder; and the more detailed Dragonfly Monitor, where participants are asked to survey selected sites at least four times per annum, at least twice from late May to the end of June and at least twice from July to early September, to cover the flight period of all Irish dragonfly and damselfly species. Observations are also made of habitat and water quality, as well as noting any impacts. The NBDC reported that by the end of 2019 it had received 2856 dragonfly and damselfly records. After validating the records, they were combined with the Northern Ireland records from the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording (CEDaR), giving 3788 records from across the island of Ireland (NBDC, 2020). Data submitted to the NBDC in 2019 are now available online. 26 Records were received for 499 out of a possible 1000 10-km-square grid squares. Records for 26 dragonfly and damselfly species were received in 2019 (Figure 6.11). Further details on the survey and how to take part are available on the NBDC website. 27 Figure 6.11  Validated dragonfly and damselfly records received by the NBDC and CEDaR by species from January to December 2019 Common darter Large red damselfly Common blue damselfly Blue-tailed damselfly Four-spotted chaser Brown hawker Emperor dragonfly Azure damselfly Common hawker Banded demoiselle Migrant hawker Emerald damselfly Beautiful demoiselle Variable damselfly Ruddy darter Hairy dragonfly Black darter Black-tailed skimmer Irish damselfly Keeled skimmer Vagrant emperor Scarce blue-tailed damselfly Red-veined darter Scarce emerald damselfly Downy emerald Lesser emperor Species 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 554 330 322 292 286 277 245 214 205 192 155 112 106 100 96 85 72 38 33 31 9 9 8 7 6 4 26 https://maps.biodiversityireland.ie 27 http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/recordbiodiversity/dragonfly- ireland-2019-2024/ 149