Rare damselfly habitat restored in Devon

July 2008. Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) has completed conservation work at its Venn Ottery nature reserve, near Exeter, to help save the southern damselfly, one of the UK's most threatened insects.
Last year the charity was awarded £11,000 by the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) via Natural England for the vital wetland creation work on the site.

Reintroduction of Southern damselfly
The work has been carried out in preparation for reintroducing the southern damselfly which has been absent from the site for 20 years. The insect is only found in four sites in Devon and the species has suffered a 30% decline in the UK since 1960. The work has substantially improved the habitat of the nature reserve which is part of the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

90% of lifecycle spent as larva
Matt Boydell, DWT's Nature Reserves Manager said: ‘90% of the southern damsefly's two year life cycle is spent as a larva living in submerged stream vegetation and a permanent supply of unpolluted, running water is essential for the survival of the larvae. This work has enabled DWT to create the right conditions for the damselfly so that it can be reintroduced in the coming years and given the best possible chance to succeed.‘

Prefers slow flowing streams
Water on the site had previously been concentrated in fast flowing streams. The southern damselfly prefers to breed in slow moving runnels with low open vegetation. The majority of the work on the 25 hectare site has focussed on installing a series of dams to help slow the movement of water across the site. Other work has included the creation of new ponds, de-silting an existing water body as well as the restoration of two bridges to improve access around the site.

Matt added: "All we need to do now is wait for aquatic vegetation, such as bog pondweed, to become established in the newly created pools and then we can think about proceeding with the reintroduction."