I have been studying the black darter dragonfly population at the bog pools on top of the Long Mynd nature reserve for the last ten year years, focusing on dawn, dusk, the night sky, mating and flight. Many of these photos have made the national papers and placed in competitions such as British Wildlife Photographer of the Year.  Just after xmas 2022, my pair of black darters at sunset was on the front cover of the Guardian. My delight was immediately tempered by the fact that the picture illustrated a National Trust report on the effect of climate change on species. Sadly, in summer 2023 in the heatwave, I counted fewer than 5 black darters when there should have been hundreds, due to larvae perishing as the bog pools nearly dried up  for  the first time in living memory. In the 2024 season, there has been some recovery of numbers but far less than previous seasons and proper baseline data  is now being gathered so we can find out how the upland Black Darters are doing. My book on Dragonflies and Damselflies will be published in 2027.