The month of June was dominated by dragonflies and damselflies for the Life MICA employees of the Institute for Nature and Forest Research (INBO). An important part of the Life MICA project is monitoring biodiversity in the project areas.
This data can help to estimate the impact of muskrats, coypu and their impact on nature. In Flanders, birds, plants and dragonflies are monitored in the De Luysen nature reserves in Bree (Limburg) and in the East Flemish creek area in Sint-Laureins.
9 species of damselflies
The first monitoring on 2 June took place under ideal weather conditions in the Luysen. We immediately observed a large number of species along the transects. We saw 9 species of damselflies, including the variable damselfly, the white-legged damselfly, the common winter damselfly and the Large Redeye damselfly.
Dragonfly
It was also clearly the peak of the flight time of the glass cutter, which flies unobtrusively among the reeds. We also saw the brown corn bolt whose males are on the lookout for the reeds. In total we saw 7 species of large dragonflies in this swamp area, including the Blue Emperor dragonfly. On subsequent visits, we were able to add several more armored spread-winged damselflies to this list. We also saw large numbers of Ruddy Darter.
The dragonfly monitoring is over for this year. We are already looking forward to next year!
