Calling all Dragonfly experts

We need help identifying a new species

We’ve had a couple of reports of a Hairy Dragonfly hunting over the pond last week, which we’ve not yet been able to confirm. Ideally we would like to net it our get a good photograph so we can be sure of its identification, so if you have the specialist knowledge either as a dragonfly expert or a photographer, please come down and see if you can spot it.

The Hairy Dragonfly, or Hairy Hawker (Brachytron Pratense) is not normally found this far north, but it’s range, like that of many other insect species, is moving northwards due to climate change. It is mainly found near unpolluted, well-vegetated water bodies so the habitat is right for it but it’s yet to be recorded in Shropshire so to find it here would be a real coup.