*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-eyed Damslefly Erythromma viridulum (15).

*Barrow Lower Lodge, Clitheroe, East Lancashire (Mike Watson)*

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*Willow Emerald Damselfly | Chalcolestes viridis, Towneley School Pond, 24 August 2025 (Mike Watson)*

THEY’RE HERE! The colonisation of the UK by Willow Emerald Damselfly | Chalcolestes virids has been just as spectacular as that of Small Red-eyed Damselfly | Erythromma viridulum as they race each other towards Scotland. Willow Emerald now has a foothold in East Lancashire. The first were found by Jen Coates at Lower Towneley Pool in Burnley in 2023 but there were no sightings the following year. However, she did see at least six on 24 August this year at the same spot, which suggests they did breed after all. In the meantime, Allen Holmes found it at another site in Burnley, at Heasandford Lodge.

I had become weary of searching for it without success around Clitheroe so I wanted to see what their habitat was like in Burnley, which might provide some clues to where to look in the Ribble Valley. Allen and I had a great day on his local patch, seeing Willow Emeralds at four sites. We had at least three but maybe as many as six at Heasandford Lodge, including 1-2 mating pairs. Then Allen spotted another at Rowley Lake, in an alder a few metres downstream from the weir. We followed this up with a visit to Lower Towneley Pool where we located one of Jen’s damselflies and then we found it at another new site, Towneley School Pond, in the willows by the pond. The following day John Wright spotted one at another site at Oswaldwhistle where evidence of breeding had been discovered. They have already been busy in East Lancs!

*Willow Emerald Damselfly | Chalcolestes viridis, Heasandford Lodge, 24 August 2025 (Mike Watson)*

I learned from our sightings. Apart from at Towneley School Pond, they were all very conspicuous, perching on the outermost dead branches of trees. They only did this in sunshine. They were using these perches to hunt smaller flies, making upward sallies up from them in a Sympetrum style, often returning to the same perch. Those at Heasandford Lodge and Rowley Lake were in Alders not Willows and the one at Lower Towneley Pool was in an Ash (so no need to focus purely on willows!). At Heasandford and Rowley Lake they were over water (this is also important for their breeding cycle so their larvae fall into water not cold ground). When disturbed they seemed to go upwards in the trees not down (I have seen this before), the mating pairs also did this.

*Willow Emerald Damselfly | Chalcolestes viridis, Rowley Lake, 24 August 2025 (Mike Watson)*

*Willow Emerald Damselfly | Chalcolestes viridis, Townley School Pond, 24 August 2025 (Mike Watson)*

*Willow Emerald habitat at Heasandford Lodge, East Lancashire (Mike Watson)*

*Allen Holmes at Heasandford Lodge, 24 August 2025 (Mike Watson)*

*Towneley School Pond is very dry this year! (Mike Watson)*

*Emerald Damselfly | Lestes sponsa, Heasandford Lodge. At one point flying below the Willow Emeralds (Mike Watson)*

*Black Darter | Sympetrum danae, Heasandford Lodge. Rare to see one in the town, far away from moorland bogs! (Mike Watson)*

*Helophilus trivittatus, Towneley School Pond (Mike Watson)*

*Helophilus hybridus, Heasandford Lodge. A rare wetland hoverfly in East Lancs (Mike Watson)*

*Tachina fera, Rowley Lake - a parasitic fly (Mike Watson)*

*The attractive cranefly Tipula lateralis, Heasandford Lodge (Mike Watson)*

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