Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura pumilio)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - dragonfly (Odonata) > Dragonfly or damselfly |
| Red List Status: | Near Threatened (Not Relevant) [NT(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Ischnura pumilio |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Charpentier, 1825) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Daguet et al., 2008 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Listed in the British Odonata Red Data List (Daguet et al., 2008) as Near Threatened (qualified under B2 but could not meet the additional criterion). A significant proportion of the British population is located in England. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species has a sporadic distribution across the South of England and the Midlands. It is associated with early successional habitat favouring open sparsely vegetated shallow pools, runnels and seepages that are often ephemeral. This can include manmade wetland features (such as standing water, seepages and water-filled wheel ruts and ditches) at quarry sites including chalk, limestone, china clay and gravel pits. With a lack of management these habitats often rapidly become unsuitable as a result of natural succession. A lack of suitable habitat is believed to be the primary factor limiting species recovery. The species is transient in nature and can disperse to, and colonise new areas of suitable habitat. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Incorporating early successional wetlands into the landscape. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 6. Recovery solutions trialled |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | The species' capacity for recovery is enhanced by its ability to disperse significant distances to seek out and colonise new sites. Species occupancy is being surveyed by the British Dragonfly Society Recording Scheme; however, it is likely to be under-recorded due to its unpredictable transient nature and similarities with the more common Ischnura elegans. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Trial management techniques to maintain a percentage cover of suitable early successional wetland breeding habitat within the landscape. Active quarries and pits are a significant source of suitable breeding habitat; research is needed to identify how to maintain, or compensate for, its wetland habitat when extraction sites close and undergo restoration. Research should include species surveying to assess success.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: Not applicable
High priority sites:
Comments: Historically recorded at several clay pits in Devon where it has been subsequently lost when activity stopped and sites are abandoned or flooded during restoration projects. Results used to inform Key Actions 2 and 3.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Assist managers of sites with known colonies to incorporate key management actions identified by Key Action 1 into site plans, and how to assess the success of management actions via surveying.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Advice & support
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Produce habitat management guidance for both natural and manmade sites based on the findings of Key Action 1. Share with relevant stakeholders, site owners and practitioners for implementation, such as contractors who perform quarry site restoration. Success can be measured by the results of species occupancy surveying carried out as part of the British Dragonfly Society Recording Scheme.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Education/awareness raising
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.