Dragonfly Books

Here is a brief list of books that you might find useful. The BDS website has a much longer list and if you buy from them they will make some money.

Field guides (Britain)

I have the two guides listed below

  • Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland; Brooks, Cham & Lewington (Revised Edition 2014); British Wildlife Publishing (ISBN 978 0 95649 028 5)

  • Britain's Dragonflies; Dave Smallshire & Andy Swash (4th edition 2018); WILDGuides (ISBN 978-0-691-18141-7)

I think both of these are very good. In the former the illustrations by Richard Lewington are excellent; in the latter the photographic compositions give a clear guide to how the species appear in the field and have excellent species comparison charts. They are both up to date on the distribution maps and recent changes in status as well as distribution. Both books go beyond ID guides giving a background to the biology. If I just had the current editions of these books I would probably take the Brooks & Cham book in my rucksack - a slightly smaller format and a weight of 380g compared to 509g - but in reality both current versions just sit on my book shelf for home use and my 2nd edition of Britain's Dragonflies goes into the rucksack !

If I was starting out with dragonflies and spending most of my time in the UK then I would pick one of these two rather than one of the European guides which contain a lot of additional species which will confuse a newcomer. As an ex County Dragonfly Recorder who still undertakes verification I sometimes wish the "species that might occur" section of Britain's Dragonflies was removed - it would save me trying to convince people they hadn't seen a Southern Darter in Hampshire!

Another book I have is Adrian Riley's

  • Dragons & Damsels - An identification Guide to the British and Irish Odonata; Riley (2020); Brambleby Books (ISBN 9781908241641)

In addition to the individual species descriptions Adrian takes a different approach to the other books by grouping species by prominent features and then taking you to a section (a damselfly or dragonfly group) where the possible species and the features to separate them are detailed. I like this approach.

Field guides (Europe)

I have the four guides listed below (weight in grams given at the end of each entry)

  • Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe (2nd edition); Dijkstra and Schröter (illus. Lewington) (2020); Bloomsbury (ISBN 978-1-4729-4395-8) (661g)

  • Europe's Dragonflies - A Field Guide to the Damselflies and Dragonflies; Smallshire & Swash (2020); Princeton University Press (ISBN 978-0-691-16895-1) (927g)

  • The Dragonflies of Europe (2nd Edition); Askew (2003); Harley Books (ISBN 0-946589-75-5) (799g)

  • Dragonflies and Damselflies of Europe; Galliani, Scherini and Piglia (2017);WBA Handbook 7 (ISBN 97888903323-6-4) (770g)

The books by Dijkstra & Schröter (drawings) and by Smallshire & Swash (photographs) are both excellent. I owned the first edition of Dijkstra from the date it was published and it will probably be the book I take out in the field when I am in Europe because it is (a) (slightly) smaller and considerably lighter and (b) has Onychogomphus cazuma (a species new to science in 2020 and possibly to be found on a Málaga river) . Askew is probably too large to take into the field but contains some wonderfully detailed drawings and text - it is considerably out of date on the distribution maps. The Galliani book is fine with some excellent photographs but I found it didn't add anything to what I already knew from Dijkstra.

General

  • Dragonflies (Collins New Naturalist); Corbet & Brooks (2008); HarperCollins UK - A must for all who are interested in biology and behaviour of dragonflies.

  • Atlas of Dragonflies in Britain and Ireland; Cham, Nelson, Prentice, Smallshire & Taylor (2014); Field Studies Council - A must for all those with a passion for odonata of the UK - much more than an atlas.

  • The Dragonflies of Hampshire; Taverner, Cham, Hold et al. (2004); Pisces Publications - If you can still find one this will give you much more information about dragonflies in Hampshire than I can cover on these web pages.

  • Dragonflies: Behaviour and Ecology of Odonata (Revised Edition 2004); Philip S. Corbet; Harley Books - Perhaps not for beginners but if you come across one in a charity shop - buy it!

  • Les Larves de Libellules de (Die Libellenlarven von) Paul-André Robert - if you have an interest in larvae and exuviae then this is a book with drawings that make Richard Lewington look like a beginner (and if you have either of the field guides mentioned above you will know Richard is a superb illustrator!)

  • Atlas of the European dragonflies and damselflies; Boudot & Kalkman (Eds) 2015; KNNV Publishing (ISBN 978 90 5011 4806) - Mapping at a much more local scale than in a field guide.

Some proof that I have actually have on my shelf the books I am recommending!