The aim of the website is to give people an awareness of the numerous species of dragonflies and damselflies that live in Somerset and to help you understand what they look like and where you may see them and enjoy them.
I started getting interested in Dragonflies and Damselflies back in 2017 and since then have slowly been building up a collection of images as well as getting a good understanding of them. There is still loads for me to learn about these fascinating insects, but that's the beauty of concentrating on a species.
Dragonflies and Damselflies are not afraid of humans and if you find an interesting spot where there are lots of them around, they will happily fly and land all around you and in some cases may land on you.
The “Dragonflies” and “Damselflies” menus contain a list of all species recognised in the UK. For each species, I have added a status indicating whether it breeds in Somerset, visits the county occasionally, or is not present at all. This helps show how all UK species relate to Somerset. Each section displays a selection of images I have taken, along with some basic information about the species and locations where it can be seen. NB: I am sure there are many sites I have not mentioned; these are simply the ones I have personally experienced. The “Especially Good” section highlights the peak period for each species at a particular site. The species will usually be present outside this period, but in lower numbers.
Under the 'My Spots' section are places I regularly visit and where the majority of these images would have been photographed. When images have been photographed outside of Somerset I'll highlight this in the description, these will be the rarer ones which are easier to photograph elsewhere.
Dragonflies - Out of the 29 recognised species in the UK, Somerset has 21 of them, 3 of which are occasional visitors (Vagrant Hawker, Southern Migrant Hawker and Red Veined Darter)
Damselflies - Out of the 20 recognised species in the UK, Somerset has 13 of them, also the Small Red Damselfly possibly is present, which if so would make it 14.
I'm only writing a short description on each of the species as there are plenty of books and websites out there that can be used for more detailed descriptions. Good websites are by the British Dragonfly Society and another by Odo-nutters, which do very good identification aids. Regarding books, I use 'Britain's Dragonflies' by Dave Smallshire and Andy Swash and the 'Field guide to Dragonflies and Damselflies' by Steve Brook and Steve Cham. The first contains photographs and the second, illustrations, so I find the 2 of them makes a good combination. Obviously, there are others out there as well.