Scarce Blue Tailed Damselfly

Distribution: Has not been recorded in Wiltshire for some years. It is most often found in ephemeral aquatic habitats such as shallow water areas with little vegetation, and valley mire seepages subject to disturbance. Man-made sites include mineral extraction workings with spring-line seepages and small pools such as tyre ruts. This would explain why all of our records, which span the years 1985-88, have come from the Cotswold Water Park (CWP) in actively worked pits. In 1988 I found a colony utilising a caterpillar tractor rut 2m long by 0.5m wide! The following year it was gone. Unfortunately, since that time, access to such sites has been almost impossible due to more stringent Health & Safety Regulations. There was a possible sighting at a derelict industrial site at Bradford upon Avon two years ago, but this was not confirmed and has not been repeated.

Identification: Most likely to be confused with the Blue Tailed Damselfly which it common in Wiltshire. The males can be separated by looking at the 'blue tail'. In the scarce blue tailed, the bottom half of segment 8 and all of segment 9 are blue, whereas in the blue tailed the whole of segment 8 (only) is blue.

County Status: Very Rare, only ever recorded in the Cotswold Water Park.