Each year, Durham Wildlife Trust volunteers join dragonfly enthusiasts across the North East to submit sightings that help build the annual report of species. Written by County Recorder and former Durham Wildlife Trust trustee, Michael Coates, the report not only highlights the wide variety of species seen in our region but also tracks their growth or decline.

In 2024, the biggest surprise was that small red-eyed damselflies, which normally breed further south, migrated from Brasside Pond near Durham, where they had first appeared in 2022, and were spotted at 15 sites in the Durham Wildlife Trust region and further north. This rapid spread through and beyond the region's borders is unprecedented. What was particularly delightful is that one of the sites they decided to land and breed on was a new pond at the rear of Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve. The pond was so new it only had a small amount of vegetation, in the form of some floating weed. Fortunately, that’s what small red-eyed damselflies love, and it enabled wildlife watchers to get within a few feet of these new visitors and like Michael, take a photo with their phone.

Also at Rainton Meadows, for the third year, willow emerald damselflies were spotted at Joe's Pond Nature Reserve, but this time in larger numbers, so they are breeding successfully. Over the last ten years, they have been creeping further north up the eastern coastal regions of England, so Rainton Meadows was always a possible most northerly site for them to breed, and so it was for a few weeks until a pair were spotted mating at Gosforth Nature Reserve. So, once again, a species has spread north at an unusually fast rate.

Otherwise, in the Durham Wildlife Trust region, twenty species were observed between 26^th April, when the large red damselflies emerged, and the final sighting of a common darter on 16^th November. The large red damselflies are always the first to be seen, mainly because in late autumn, their larvae develop to the stage that other species only get to in spring, giving them a head start. Common darters are normally the last to be seen, partly because they are by far the most common species in our region (520 records) and also because they can cope with far lower temperatures than other species.

In total, there were 2531 sightings, which means that in total, well over 25,000 dragonflies were spotted and records submitted via iRecord, iNaturalist or Michael’s very own app. If you would like to submit your sightings in 2025, please use one of those links. Michael will also be running dragonfly walks at Rainton Meadows, Low Barns and Shibdon Pond this summer, so keep a close eye on our events page.