Being able to watch a dragonfly emerge from its larval casing is a real privilege. This is a dangerous time for the insects as they're immobile until the process is complete - easy pickings for a passing predator. I felt rather protective of the one that I was able to watch. Young clubtails are burrowers, living for up to five years in the silt of meanders in rivers. When ready to emerge, they need surfaces or vegetation to clamber up in order to find a safe place to break free of their case. Becoming a fully fledged adult takes a good couple of hours and involves cracking backwards through the case and gradually easing their adult body into the open air. Liquids then pulse through the body and wings as the newly emerged adults, almost imperceptibly, gain their full adult size. 

Once fully 'pumped up', they flutter into vegetation away from the water and eventually head to woodlands or mature hedgerows where they hunt for prey and find a mate. They often fly high in the canopy so it's a treat to catch sight of one. They return to the river about a week or so later in order to establish breeding territories and create the next generation. The nymphs tend to emerge synchronously in mid or late May, prompted by temperature and day length, so there's a good chance that if you miss their emergence, you might catch their return to the river in good numbers.

Common clubtails are very special dragonflies. Despite their name, they're not common at all. Different species of dragonfly prefer different locations - some like fast-flowing water, others prefer ponds - so you don't find all dragons in all locations. Worcestershire has been a UK stronghold for a long time with good populations on both the rivers Severn and Avon. In recent years the population along the Avon has been lost but, thankfully, their population along the Severn seem to be doing well. Fingers crossed that this lasts but excessive dredging, pollution and badly-timed management of riverbanks and ponds remain threats to all dragonflies.

These aerial acrobats are relatively easy to identify.  The young adults are yellow and black with a club-shaped end to the abdomen. The yellow turns to green as they age but the males retain bright yellow spots along the sides of their abdomens. The really distinctive feature is that they’re the only UK dragonfly whose eyes don’t meet. This might sound a little odd but, at a distance, this could mean the difference between ‘what dragonfly was that’ and ‘that was a clubtail’! 

We'd love to hear from you if you see a common clubtail or any other dragonfly. If you're able to capture a photograph (even a blurry one) or video, you can upload it via our short Wildlife Sightings form to let us know where and when you saw it.