Well last week we were out looking for bog dragons on Flanders... or the northern emerald dragonfly to be precise. This dragonfly is a north species and a bit of a mystery to boot. It is found mainly in north Scotland and was found on Flanders Moss 3 years ago by our redoubtable volunteer Prof John Knowler. He found 1 recently emerged individual while out looking for moths and this has proved to be the most southerly record in the UK of what is quite a scarce species. So after more searching with no luck we invited down the Scottish dragonfly recorder Pat Batty to help us see if we could find out a bit more about this creature. Now the best way to confirm the presence of this insect is not to look for the adults but the larvae. These creatures live for up to 4 years in wet, peaty pools that are completely filled with sphagnum. This makes hunting for them with the usual nets very difficult so a quick raid on the kitchen produced a plastic colander that is ideal for sieving the sphagnum to find these little larva. According to Pat you can tell the difference from other dragonfly larva because they are hairy and have a round bum, probably best to say no more on this point.
Anyway within 10 mins. of starting to look we found 1 larva, so excited we set off with enthusiasm sieving sphagnum in likely pools for the rest of the day. But never found another larvae for the rest of the day despite sampling likely habitats across the Moss.
So the mystery is not only how do these strange creatures survive in thick sphagnum soup, what do they eat and how do they catch it but also what makes them choose specific squidgy bits to live in ? So next year the search will continue to find out more about these dragons on Flanders with trusty colander in hand, and guess what the wife is getting for her birthday ?
