Dragonfly and Damselfly: Larval Identification
Friday 28 May 2010
Location: Glastonbury, Somerset
Tutor: Jonathan Willet
Level: Beginner – Intermediate
The workshop will be outdoors and focusing on gaining as much practical, field experience of larval dragonfly and damselfly (Odonata) identification as possible. There will be brief indoor sessions at the beginning and end of the day to outline and then summarise what has been learnt. By the end of the workshop participants should know how to identify all larval Odonata found locally.
IEEM Members: £80 (£70 if booked before 28 March 2010).
Non-members: £160 (£140 if booked before 28 March 2010).
Who should attend this workshop?
Anyone who has an interest in dragonflies and damselflies, especially those who are asked to survey for these insects when the sun isn’t shining!
Anything participants need to know/read before coming on the training event, or need to have with them?
Bring:
- A x10 or x20 hand lens.
- A white plastic, desert-sized spoon.
- A packed lunch.
Ideally participants would own and be familiar with either:
- Brooks, S. (1997). Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland. British Wildlife Publishing. Rotherwick.
- Smallshire, D. and Swash, A. (2004). Britain’s Dragonflies. Wildguides. Old Basing.
If you really want to impress the tutor you could read the larval sections of
- Corbet. P.S and Brooks. S.J. (2008). Dragonflies. Collins New Naturalist. HarperCollins. London.
What will participants learn from the workshop (learning outcomes)?
- How to identify the different types of dragonfly and damselfly larvae found locally and how to find them.
- How to speciate these.
- How to follow the keys and learn shortcuts to identification.
- Understand the ecological requirements of a species so you can “read” a habitat and determine what species are likely to be found there.