Mosquito Hunters Unlimited
Dragonfly Surveying Workshop [Full Day]
Saturday July 17 at 10.30 am at
Brandon Marsh Nature Centre
This workshop is aimed at the
non-professional who is interested in helping us to survey
dragonflies for local projects in Warwickshire and identify their
breeding grounds and who wants to learn more about the ecology and
behaviour of dragonflies. The workshop will involve both an indoor
session to improve your ID skills in the morning and then an
afternoon visit to see the animals in their natural
environment.
COST: £10 per person,
payable at the time of booking to guarantee your place. Places are
limited, so book early
Light refreshments are provided but lunch
is not included in the price.
Please bring appropriate weatherproof
clothing and strong footwear.
Caroline Bailey, Reserves Biodiversity
Officer says, "No-one likes being bitten by ravenous insects; the
bite of a malaria mosquito in particular is potentially lethal, and
such worries would seem to be irrelevant here in temperate Britain.
However, with our weather patterns altering to favour the warm and
wet end of the scale, we might well see the return of malaria
mosquitoes to our shores [malaria was endemic in Britain from the
15th century until the 1950s] and dragonflies have the potential to
be in the front line of defence against the mosquitoes' return.
Dragonflies are regarded as strictly carnivorous insects and
dragonfly nymphs (the first stage after hatching) love to feed on
mosquitoes. An adult dragonfly can eat about 50 mosquitoes in a day
while flying around and this is a very important factor in the
biological control of mosquitoes - but they need all the help they
can get. Dragonflies have inhabited the Earth for about 300 million
years, but in spite of having been around for so long, they are now
under severe threat from habitat destruction, pollution, and other
environmental degradation. Our workshop aimed at training future
dragonfly surveyors is therefore of crucial importance, as we
urgently need to know as much as possible about the location and
health of our local dragonfly populations. Give us a call now."
ENDS