Dragonflies in the Netherlands (1 Viewer)

Hi,
Does anyone know of any resources for Dragonfly sites in the Netherlands?
Looking at distribution maps in my field guide, it looks like a good location for a whole host of interesting species, but I'm having trouble finding good sites or details of their abundance.

Species that caught my eye: (many are present in UK, but with the effort involved for me to get to the UK populations, a trip to the continent sounds potentially easier..)

variable damsel,
northern damsel,
irish damsel,
norfolk hawker,
western clubtail,
yellow spotted emerald,
northern emerald,
eurasian baskettail,
white faced darter,
northern white faced darter,
large white-faced darter,
yellow winged darter,

A trip to the lovely (cheap) Belarus would get quite a few of these.

I have Variable, Northern, Yellow-spotted Emerald, Wf Darter, NWf Darter, Black Darter, Moustached Darter and Yw Darter within 500m of home in Russia. I'm surprised that Black Darter isn't on your list?

Sorry, not much use for the Netherlands!

A very long time ago (24 years!) I spent a summer in the Netherlands and found it pretty good for odonata almost everywhere. I spent a fair bit of time at the Fochteloerveen near Assen, which is a large bog. It's a particularly good site. Think I saw Northern and Irish Damsel there and a lot White-faced Darter spp. It's quite good for birds too (e.g. saw ten species of raptor there).

Cheers Andrew,
the site you mention is close to the Drenthe region, which so far has the majority of info I have found online.
Even a book: https://www.veldshop.nl/en/libellen-in-drenthe.html

I've been to Drenthe, but in the late Autumn / Winter. The Dutch highlands!

peter.jones said:

Hi,
Does anyone know of any resources for Dragonfly sites in the Netherlands?

Click to expand...

First start at waarneming.nl where sightings for most of these are available.

The prime site is the Weerribben where all of the ones labelled "easy" in the list below occur.
You'll need a few visits for best results.

It's not too far from the Fochteloërveen which I have rarely visited (but which is justifiably very popular for moorland species).

variable damsel - easy
northern damsel - I can send you a personal message (sites are not openly publicised)
irish damsel - at moorland sites in the north and east (e.g. Haaksbergerveen, which is also good for other moorland species)
norfolk hawker - easy
western clubtail - widespread, wouldn't know a "dedicated site" but waarneming.nl should help
yellow spotted emerald - easy (especially at the Woldlakebos)
northern emerald - I don't know how next year will be after the disastrous drought this year. Very local and sites are kept under wraps.
eurasian baskettail - does not occur
white faced darter - at most moorland sites
northern white faced darter - at most moorland sites
large white-faced darter - easy
yellow winged darter - irruptive, very difficult in recent years

Some additions that might be interesting:
Norfolk damsel (can only be seen on an annual excursion in early May, at the Weerribben of course).
Siberian winter damsel (the last "not extremely rare" dragonfly I still need for the Netherlands, I cannot get too excited though!)
brown winter damsel (widespread)
lilypad whiteface (easy at the Weerribben)
spotted darter (easy at the Weerribben)
green hawker (quite a few localities)
subarctic hawker (sites not openly publicised, but I can help)
green snaketail (very local near Roermond in the southeast)
broad scarlet is now very common

Here's a list of sites per province, with a species list (including some for which you will not get an exact location). You can change the language of the list into English:
https://forum.waarneming.nl/smf/index.php?topic=43455.0

For each species you can find statistics which will show you which time of year is best etc.

For many of the places I could give additional info.

Hi Xenospiza,
Thanks very much. There is a wealth of information on that site.
Very impressive,

Peter