Scarce Emerald Damselfly
Lestes dryas
RDB 2
Only three records exist for this currently county extinct and nationally rare species. Rumoured to be nationally extinct in the 1970's, it's fortunes have improved somewhat and it can now be found in Essex and Norfolk, although its preference for shallow water and well vegetated ditches makes it vulnerable to drought, falling water tables and agricultural 'tidying'.
The county records, all from the 1950's were from Black Walk Nook, Messingham and Cowbit Wash. The specimen from Cowbit Wash, found on the 9th September 1956 by John Redshaw, was handed to Cynthia Longfield, the doyen of British Odonata, for confirmation. The specimen now resides in the Natural History museum, Kensington.
The 1983 edition of Transactions features an article by Chapman and Wilson on Lincolnshire's dragonflies in which reference is made to a record of this species from New Bolingbroke. The criteria used for identifying the nymph is not reliable and this record has not been accepted at national level. It is therefore not included in the county records. Similarly no substantive evidence exists for their Fiskerton-Bardney records and so they remain as unconfirmed.
Distribution map
