The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.
Range & Status
Until recently this species was a migrant from southern Europe with a few reaching
Cornwall annually.
Regional Distribution
1997 saw the emergence of a possible breeding colony at Bake Lakes in Caradon. This colony has stabilised with some breeding success over the last ten years and the species is recorded throughout Cornwall locally with sporadic breeding records.
Habitat & Ecology
This species successfully breeds in a wide variety of shallow ponds, lakes and ditches and will tolerate some brackish water.
Threats
There is nothing specific to report apart from the fact that breeding colonies are still in the early stages of stabilisation.
Conservation
With breeding colonies gaining a tenuous foothold in Cornwall, known sites should be regularly visited and recorded and suitable new sites should be identified and monitored.
I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.
The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.