The East Devon Pebblebed Heaths support some of the last populations of Southern Damselfly in England.
Red listed as one of Europe’s rarest and most threatened damselflies and defined as a globally threatened species this is one of the heaths rarest species.
Up to 25% of the world population are located in southern England and Wales, where it is at the northern extent of its range.
Preferred habitat are the small water channels, or ‘runnels’, found in the mires of Aylesbeare, Venn Ottery and Colaton Raleigh Commons. Highly specialised, they need conditions to be just right in order to thrive. Those created by grazing cattle and ponies seem to be beneficial – maintaining the open nature of runnels and keeping vegetation in check enables the damselfly to complete all the stages of its lifecycle, most of which it spends as larvae in the water rather than flying as an adult. Southern damselfly are delicate flyers, rarely straying far from breeding sites. It is unlikely the pocket populations of the Pebblebeds are able to interact.
Adults fly from June to August and can be tricky to identify in comparison to other species of blue damselfly, some useful tips can be found here: Southern Damselfly - British Dragonfly Society (british-dragonflies.org.uk)
Special mention to super-volunteer Lesley Kerry, who has monitored these damselflies and their lowland heath habitat for many years.