Dragonflies and Damselflies (with the scientific name Odonata) are an ancient and successful type of insect. They evolved before the dinosaurs! They are predators and they hunt and feed on smaller insects. The larvae live under water and the winged adults emerge to live their lives flying around and between ponds, ditches, rivers and lakes.

Wicken is an excellent place to see dragonflies and is one of the best sites in the region. On a sunny day, there can be thousands of these brightly coloured insects hawking up and down the Lode and the ditches, or setting up a territory around a pond.

Right: Blue-tailed Damselfly, photo courtesy of Kevin Simmonds

Formerly the reserve had an even greater dragonfly fauna, but unfortunately the decline in peat digging in the 19th century has seen the loss of four acid-loving breeding species. Today the site is best known for its strong populations of Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense, the Variable Damselfly Coenagrion pulchellum and the Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma najas.

Two new species to the Fen have been reported since 2005, the Scarce Chaser Libellula fulva (right, photo courtesy of Kevin Simmonds) and the Small Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma viridulum.

The Norfolk Hawker Aeshna isosceles was certainly recorded from the Fens during the 19th century but the closest published record to Wicken was the nearby Burwell Fen. Burwell Fen was bought by the National Trust in 2001 and is being restored to a fen wetland. Discussions are currently being held to determine whether Wicken Fen (on the recently created grazing marshes) might prove a suitable site for the re-establishment of Norfolk Hawker in the Fens in light of the threats they face in Norfolk and Suffolk from the potential salt water flooding of their primary habitats due to sea level rise. The complete list of dragonflies and damselflies at Wicken Fen, past and present is summarised in Table 1.