{"id":2231715,"date":"2026-11-01T06:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T03:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2231715"},"modified":"2026-11-01T06:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T03:19:16","slug":"rare-damselfly-spotted-by-restored-chalk-river-near-hertford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2231715","title":{"rendered":"Rare damselfly spotted by restored chalk river near Hertford"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/be44\/live\/3aea5d10-d2d9-11f1-b677-b762d2f83f6e.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"JimJim Boaden<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The rare blue-tailed damselfly on the newly created wetlands alongside the River Ash<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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An endangered damselfly has been spotted in wetlands created by an “ambitious” project that restored a stretch of a rare chalk river.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The scare blue-tailed damselfly, one of the world’s earliest flying insect species, was recorded alongside the River Ash near Hertford.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The 4.3-mile (7km) stretch at the Easneye Estate was restored to its original course last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust said that for species facing increasing pressure, creating and restoring suitable habitats was “vital to reversing declines”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The scarce blue-tailed damselfly was recorded at two monitoring sites located close together in late summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A new assessment of Britain’s dragonflies and damselflies highlighted growing concerns about the future of some species.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The British Dragonfly Society’s Red List review reclassified the scarce blue-tailed damselfly from Near Threatened to Endangered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It found that eight species were now classed as endangered, twice the number identified in the previous assessment in 2008.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"HertsHerts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Volunteers helped to plant foliage around the site, which took seven years to restore<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The River Ash is one of about 260 chalk rivers in the world, and the restoration project has included the creation of new gravel beds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The trust said brown trout were already spawning on them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In addition, monitoring carried out before and after the restoration found an increase in river invertebrates, including mayflies and stoneflies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Sarah Perry, rivers recovery manager at the trust said: “Natural rivers, connected floodplains and healthy wetlands support biodiversity by providing places for wildlife to feed and breed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“They also help water move through the landscape and can contribute to resilience against both flooding and drought.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The scarce blue-tailed damselfly sightings along the River Ash offer a hopeful example of what these efforts can achieve.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Do you have a story suggestion for Beds, Herts or Bucks? Contact us below.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on <\/i>BBC Sounds<\/i>, <\/i>Facebook<\/i>, <\/i>Instagram<\/i> and <\/i>X<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c617kvqjd81jo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/be44\/live\/3aea5d10-d2d9-11f1-b677-b762d2f83f6e.jpg”] Jim Boaden The rare blue-tailed damselfly on the newly created wetlands alongside the River Ash An endangered damselfly has been spotted in wetlands created by an “ambitious” project that restored a stretch of a rare chalk river. The scare blue-tailed damselfly, one of the world’s earliest flying insect species, was recorded alongside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2231715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2231715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2231715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2231715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2231715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2231715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2231715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}