On 18^th September 2023 Dougy Wright, volunteer warden at Windmill Farm nature reserve, was leading a walk for a local conservation charity. Whilst in one of the fields talking about different pond designs he saw a large dragonfly that he immediately recognised as a vagrant emperor (Anax ephippiger) and informed the 15 or so onlookers that were taking part in the walk.

As the dragonfly banked away it revealed a red abdomen (the long thin part of the dragonfly) and a green and yellow thorax (the section of the dragonfly between the head and the abdomen). This was not what Dougy was expecting. It did, however, have the expected brown eyes! This colouration caused some confusion.

Shown below is a typical vagrant emperor.

In this image, the abdomen is dark, as this individual is relatively old. More often the abdomen is a beige colour. The second segment of the abdomen is a bright blue colour (brighter in the male- as above – than the female) and the thorax is brown.

Immature vagrant emperors morph into adult colouration within 24–48 hours of emerging from the skin they are encased in as larvae. Therefore, Dougy hoped this one had emerged from Windmill Farm.

An additional reason that local emergence was suspected is that there were couples 'in tandem' mating and ovipositing (egg laying) females seen in May of this year (2023). Furthermore, the lifecycle from mating to emergence can be as short as 3 months.

The report of the immature vagrant emperor was submitted to The British Dragonfly Society for acceptance – as this would be the first record of an immature vagrant in the UK. To prove breeding you require the exuvia: the cast skin or exoskeleton of the species. Therefore, Dougy set about looking for exuvia!

Not knowing what he was looking for he gave his good mate (and renowned dragonfly expert) Steve Jones a call. On the morning of the 22^nd of September, the pair of them set about exuvia hunting!

Steve had a pot and was right in amongst it. Checking reed and other plant stems in the pond, his wellies quickly got filled with pond water. Dougy took a different approach and searched with his binoculars. Steve found exuviae of a few different species – including that of the red veined darter – Sympetrum fonscolombei (a rare breeder in the UK and a first exuviae for the reserve). Steve also found exuviae from a different emperor dragonfly – Anax imperator.

After about twenty minutes Dougy ventured into the water (his eye having been caught by a moth cocoon) and spotted a fresh emperor-ish size exuvia.

He summoned Steve and Steve said “I think that is it!”

Steve potted it for later examination and carried on looking but found no more. Once back in the car park Steve had a good look at the exuvia and said “I am 85% sure that is a vagrant emperor exuvia”. 

Steve took the exuvia home for a thorough examination and later that day confirmed it was one. He submitted the record to the BDS and the record was accepted as that of a male vagrant emperor exuvia. Below is an extract of Steve’s detailed submission and supporting photos.

“My photograph show the typical Anax shape of the eyes, the distinctive shape of the labium (jaw), the overall length of the exuvia which is aproximately 44.5mm and finally the periproct (located at the tip of the abdomen)”

Dougy and Steve are the joint finders of the UK’s first proof of breeding for the Vagrant Emperor. A tremendous achievement!

Steve (and to a lesser extent Dougy) had been looking for evidence of emergence for some years, as vagrant emperors have been seen mating and ovipositing at various sites on The Lizard for the last 12 years or so.