This report has been produced as part of the JNCC Species Status Assessment project, assigning conservation status to British flora and fauna using internationally-approved IUCN Red Data Book criteria and categories (JNCC, 2006). Within this project, the remit of the present report is to assess the status of Odonata throughout Great Britain, using the updated IUCN Red Data Book criteria and categories. The previous assessment of the conservation status of British Odonata using IUCN criteria and categories is in Shirt, 1987. This lists four species as Endangered, two as Vulnerable and three as Rare. Three of the Endangered species were regarded as extinct in Britain.
Over the last 20 years since the publication of the 1987 British Red Data list of Odonata (Shirt, 1987),improved recording, changes in the distribution of British Odonata and modifications to IUCN criteria and categories have meant that a review of the status of dragonflies and damselflies in Britain is now warranted.
This report assesses the current status of British Odonata, using Version 3.1 of the IUCN Red List categories and criteria (IUCN, 2001). The current status of each species has been determined through the analysis of records held within the Dragonfly Recording Network (DRN), along with expert opinions from members of the British Dragonfly Society's Dragonfly Conservation Group (DCG). In qualifying the Odonata status determined by information held within the DRN database, it is hoped that a more appropriate assessment of each Odonata species may be made and current gaps in Odonata recording highlighted.