It's been a long wait as May has rumbled on with low temperatures, showers and often extremely windy conditions. For weeks now, we've been saying how there would be eventually be a big rush of insects whose emergences have been delayed due to inclement weather, once conditions eventually improved. The temperature had improved a little so we travelled to Goring hoping to see some Common Clubtails.
These are not the easiest of dragonflies to see as they emerge, then quickly disperse away from the water course onto farmland. They are typically associated with moderate to slow flowing, meandering waters where they will only breed if the rivers are of a depositional nature and unpolluted. These insects are adversely affected by recreational use of rivers and the river bank during their emergence time, and also suffer in the event of unsympathetic river dredging, water pollution and woodland deforestation adjacent to rivers.
Their very specific requirements have led to extremely limited habitat availability and they are only found extremely locally on rivers that include the Thames, Arun, Dee, Severn, Wye and Teifi.
Goring is known to be a good place to see them - but we tried last year and were not successful.
Thankfully, despite a late arrival (thanks to a vehicle on its side, a closed road and lengthy detour), we still managed to find five individuals.
