Willow Emerald Damselfly | Chalcolestes viridis (male), Barrow Lower Lodge, Clitheroe 6 September 2025 (Mike Watson)
SUCCESS! A WILLOW EMERALD DAMSELFLY IN THE RIBBLE VALLEY. I have spent a lot of time this summer looking for Willow Emerald Damselfy (or Western Willow Spreadwing) | Chalcolestes viridis locally. Like facing a tsunami as their colonisation of the UK moves ever northwards, it was just a matter of time until they reached the Clitheroe area but it was still an exciting moment to find one today at Barrow Lower Lodge, one of my local dragonfly hotspots. After Allen Holmes showed me where to look for them in Burnley, it wasn’t such a big surprise that one was perched in the half dead Ash tree, overhanging the lodge (the local name for a pond or lake) in which I have been checking for it in recent weeks. The zigzag pattern on the thorax is there, as well as the very pale pterostigma. No doubt Willow Emerald Damselfy will become a familiar sight in the Ribble Valley in the coming years but it was nice to see the first one. There were some other dragonflies still on the wing at Barrow Lower Lodge on a sunny morning today with the temperature just touching 20 degrees Celsius: Emperor Anax imperator, Brown Hawker Aeshna grandis, Migrant Hawker Aeshna mixta, Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum, Blue-tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans, Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum and Small Red Damslefly Erythromma viridulum (15).
Willow Emerald Damselfly | Chalcolestes viridis (male), Barrow Lower Lodge, Clitheroe 6 September 2025 (Mike Watson)
Willow Emerald Damselfly | Chalcolestes viridis (male), Barrow Lower Lodge, Clitheroe 6 September 2025 (Mike Watson)
Barrow Lower Lodge, Clitheroe, East Lancashire (Mike Watson)