Introduction
This page presents a number of links to other sources of Dragonfly and Damselfly information on the World Wide Web. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list - there are too many sites in existence to ensure that it would remain up to date. The links are listed in several categories. These are International Organisations, National Organisations, Generic Odonata Resources and UK based Odonata related sites. There is also a link to the BDS page at NHBS and information about email based Dragonfly discussion groups.
If you are responsible for a site that you believe falls into any of these categories and it is not listed here, please contact me and I will consider inclusion. Please also let me know of any "dead" links or sites that are moving.
If a site for which you are responsible is listed here and you wish me to remove it, e-mail me and I will do so.
The British Dragonfly Society is not responsible for the content of any of the sites listed in these links.
Dragonfly Books
The British Dragonfly Society has partnered with the Natural History Book Service (NHBS) as a supplier of recommended books about Dragonflies and Damselflies. The BDS receives commission from each order placed. The BDS page at NHBS has short descriptions of some recommended books.
You might also like to take a look at the WILDGuides website. WILDGuides is a non-profit making publishing organisation with a commitment to supporting wildlife conservation. Working in partnership with Natural England, WILDGuides specialises in producing definitive yet simple-to-use identification field guides to wildlife. The profits from these guides support a range of nature conservation charities, with over £10,000 donated during the last five years.
Last year (2004) WILDGuides produced a book entitled "Britain's Dragonflies", and have committed to supporting the BDS with a donation for every copy sold after costs of production have been met. You can contact WILDGuides via their website (address above) or by email to info@wildguides.co.uk, or by phone: (01628) 529297.
Top of page
International Organisations
- Worldwide Dragonfly Association Home Page (WDA)
- Societas Internationalis Odonatologica (SIO)
- The International Odonata Research Institute (IORI)
- International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN)
- International Dragonfly Fund (IDF)
National Organisations
- National Biodiversity Network Gateway - This website has an extensive collection of UK biological datasets, including those from the Dragonfly Recording Network (DRN). Information on species, habitats and sites is available. Some datasets are only available to registered users.
- National Insect Week
- Banded Demoiselle Survey website - see the notice on the Diary page.
- Natural England - a site dedicated to Protected Sites & Protected Species.
- Biological Records Centre - a site dedicated to Biological Recording Schemes including Dragonflies and Damselflies.
- ARKive - An "Electronic Noah's Ark", an online collection of images and information about plants and animals (including a few dragonflies) throughout the world. Built and maintained by The Wildscreen Trust.
- The Natural History Museum - Nature Navigator - A new guide from the Natural History Museum, illustrated with artworks from the Museum's collections.
- Africa Dragonfly - Africa-Dragonfly is dedicated to Odonata found in Africa. The site offers access to a database of photos taken around African countries in the Oriental Region and links to other sources of information on Oriental Odonata.
- Asia Dragonfly - Asia-Dragonfly is dedicated to Odonata found in the Oriental region. The site offers access to a database of photos taken around Asian countries in the Oriental Region and links to other sources of information on Oriental Odonata.
- OdonataCentral & The Dragonfly Society of the Americas (DSA) - OdonataCentral hosts the site of the DSA and also contains comprehensive checklists of species together with ditribution maps and photos for USA, Canada and Mexico species. Highly recommended for anyone visiting the North America, and South-Central USA in particular. Completely overhauled in November 2007 including the facility for adding records from anywhere in the world and a new distribution map viewer.
- The Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies - at James Cook University, Australia. This site has recently (September 2009) added machine readable (.pdf) versions of Tillyard's “The Biology of Dragonflies” (1917) and Corbet's “A Biology of Dragonflies” (1962).
- Société Française d'Odonatologie (SFO)
- Finnish Dragonfly Society - The site is in Finnish so here is a direct link to the species list in English
- Libellules - Christian Kerihuel's site about Odonata of France
- Moulismes Nature - Showcases the wildlife that can be found in and around Moulismes, a village in the Vienne, central-western France. Dedicated Odonata section.
- Oxygastra - Grup d'estudi dels odonats de Catalunya - Excellent site with many good photographs of species from Catalonia and elsewhere in Europe
- Nederlandse Vereniging voor Libellenstudie (NVL) - the Dutch dragonfly society
- Dutch Dragonflies - an alternative photo and video site of the dragonflies of The Netherlands
- Belgian Dragonfly Working Group
- Gesellschaft deutschsprachiger Odonatologen (GDO)
- The Hokkaido Odonatological Society
- Dragonflies of India
- Preliminary checklist and atlas of Armenian dragonflies
- Odonata of Russia
- Odonata living in the area between Holland, Germany and Austria.
- Dragonflies and Damselflies living in Denmark.
- Swedish Dragonflies.
- Dragonflies and damselflies living in Andalusia - in Spanish
- Webring of regional based Odonatological websites in France - in French
- Dragonflies of Moldova
Odonata related sites in Britain and Ireland
- BDS Sussex Group website
- The Cambridgeshire Dragonfly Group
- Cheshire Dragonflies & Damselflies
- Dragonflies of the Hampshire and Surrey Borders
- Hertfordshire Dragonfly Group
- Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust
- Lincolnshire Dragons Steve Routledge's Blog
- A website covering the dragonflies of Norfolk
- Wild about Wildlife Dragonflies and other wildlife from Norfolk and beyond
- The Dragonfly Project
- "Backyard Dragons"
- Dragonflies and Damselflies in the UK - particularly in North Buckinghamshire
- Bedfordshire Odonata
- Dragonflies and Damselflies of Wimbledon and Putney Commons
- Warwickshire Dragonfly Group
- DragonflyIreland project News and reports of sightings of Irish dragonflies
- Stover Country Park, Devon
- Derbyshire Dragonflies
- Northamptonshire Dragonflies
- Leicestershire & Rutland Dragonfly Group
- Staffordshire Ecological Record - A Survey of the Dragonflies of Lichfield
- New Forest Dragonflies
- Yorkshire branch of the British Dragonfly Society
- Dragonflies of the East Riding of Yorkshire
- Dragonfly Atlas Project for Lancashire, Greater Manchester and North Merseyside
- Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory - has pages covering all latest sightings (including for dragonflies under latest sightings, insects).
- Dragonfly Days - A website dedicated to the study and photography of Dragonflies and Damselflies in South Wales.
- The Dragonflies of Montgomeryshire
There is also a discussion group for those interested in Welsh dragonflies. - Dragons and Damsels wildlife photography - mostly taken in Shropshire.
- Mark's Wildlife - photos of Dragonflies plus other wildlife photos.
- Buckland Lake Reserve near the historic village of Cliffe in Kent
- Bedfont Lakes Conservation Volunteers
- Dragonfly Photo group on Flickr - mainly for photos from Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire, Devon, Dorset or the area formerly known as the county of Avon.
- Wildlife UK Forum - Discuss the UK countryside and wildlife.
General Odonatological Interest
- Ode News This site is mainly concerned with the dragonflies of Cape Cod but it has an outstanding collection of links to other Odonata sites and to photographic resources.
- Digital Dragonflies also known as the Digital Dragonfly Museum, this site has scanned images of many North American species.
- Odonata Image Gallery This link takes you to images of fossil dragonflies.
- Dragonflypix The creators of this site have produced several hundreds of very good photographs (most taken in Italy) which are available for purchase as high-quality prints. The photos can be viewed online freely and include many UK species.
- Les Richesses des Milieux Aquatiques French web site with photos of many European species of dragonfly along with other water-dwelling animals.
- British Wildlife Publishing Publisher of "Field Guide to Dragonflies and Damselflies of GB and Ireland". BDS members can get a discount of £1 for subscriptions to British Wildlife magazine.
Dragonfly Yahoo Group and mailing list
- A Yahoo Group exists for people interested in Dragonflies and Damselflies. The name of the group is Dragonflies-UK and can be reached by following this link. Photos can be posted to the group and questions asked (about ID, distribution etc.). Note that you will have to register to take full part in the group.
- An active dragonfly e-mailing list exists. Members of the list can participate in open discussions with other enthusiasts about any aspects of dragonfly behaviour, biology or any other relevant subject. Contributors are world wide but the list has quite a strong North American bias. If you wish to join the list, please send an e-mail to Dennis Paulson - dpaulson@ups.edu. Dennis is the list organiser.