Southern Damselfly boost in Devon

30/08/2010 22:50:56 Globally threatened damselflies in distress given funding boost
August 2010. The southern damselflies which were released onto an east Devon nature reserve last summer have been given a boost this month following a grant of £5,408 which will help improve their habitat.  The Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) has been awarded the money by RockETS. It will go towards vital conservation work at DWT's 25ha Venn Ottery nature reserve near Budleigh Salterton.

Pebblebed Heaths
The fund, administered by Devon County Council, comes from Defra's Aggregates Sustainability Levy Fund in order to compensate for the impacts of quarrying. It is estimated that since 1947 a staggering 383 hectares of the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths have been lost, 31% of which have been due to quarrying the rich sand and gravel deposits that underpin it.

Bardon Aggregates are due to re-commence quarrying their site over the road on Venn Ottery Hill in the coming months. DWT is working closely with them to minimise any impact and welcome their continued support.
The work will look to enhance the wetland habitats of the reserve where the rare southern damselflies prefer to breed. This will be achieved by removing areas of scrub woodland and moving the fence line back to allow the ever important spring line to be grazed by the charity's Exmoor ponies, keeping water flowing at optimum levels in the runnels. Other essential works include conducting repairs to dams and cutting back surface vegetation along the runnels.

Larvae won't appear until 2011
Ian Chadwick from Devon Wildlife Trust who manages the site said: "This is a nervy year for us following the release of 500 damselflies which were translocated from a heathland site in Dorset. We won't know fully until next summer whether they have bred successfully as the larvae take two years to mature. We hope that the work this winter will give them more of a fighting chance as water levels have been pretty low following the dry summer."

Work done prior to the release was extensive and carried out thanks to support from both the East Devon AONB and Pennon Environmental Fund.

Ian added: "It might seem like a costly business just to save a few damselflies, but this new colony will be a vital boost for the UK population which has seen a 30% decline in the past forty years and adds to the handful of sites in Devon which provide a home to this rare and beautiful insect."