The Sussex Group of the British Dragonfly Society has arranged field trips in June and July, which will be announced in their upcoming Newsletter, but there are now two further dates to enjoy dragonflies with like-minded folk in what is a rather unique event. It is in fact the opportunity to be present when and if we are able to establish whether there is a breeding colony of Scarce Chaser on the River Ouse.

You are probably already aware that the main Scarce Chaser populations are in West Sussex - on the Arun and Adur - but recently a population has been found in East Sussex on the Cuckmere. There have been three separate sightings of male Scarce Chasers on the Ouse in the past two years, but no-one has witnessed any breeding activity.

These special trips have been arranged in association with SOCS and I will be leading the walks on the next two Sundays. We meet at the Anchor Inn, Anchor Lane, Barcombe (TQ442161) at 10am on both Sundays - May 25th and June 1st. So if you are unable to make the first date, do try and make the second one. It should be a lot of fun. On May 25th, we will be ferrying people to Barcombe Reservoir and walking upstream to the Anchor, where you will be able to take a bite to eat and/or quench your thirst at the end of the walk. For those keen ones, we will continue further north after lunch. On June 1st, we will also head north from the Anchor. For details see SOCS website: www.sussex-ouse.org.uk/