Lestes sponsa
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Lestes sponsa is a damselfly with a wide Palaearctic distribution. It is known commonly as the emerald damselfly or common spreadwing. Both males and females have a metallic green colour and brown wing spots. It resides near pools with aquatic plants. When resting its wings are usually half opened.
One of the larger damselflies, this species is most common in July and August. It is often found by ponds and lakes, and is very rarely seen along flowing water. Emerald damselflies like to perch among reeds, their colour providing good camouflage. They are not as strong fliers when compared to other common damselflies such as the common blue or large red damselflies, but they are more likely to be seen on misty, rainy days than those species. When disturbed they usually do not fly very far away, landing on another perch a few yards away. Their habit of perching with their wings half open is characteristic of the family Lestidae and gives rise to their other common name of spreadwings. A population can consist of several hundred insects.
L. sponsa mate in the usual dragonfly manner and will form tandem pairs away from water. Copulation lasts from 30–60 minutes and after mating... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leeds | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 3 | Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 4 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 5 | Minsk | 🇧🇾 Belarus | |
| 6 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 7 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 8 | Hamburg | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 10 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Spreadwing sighting in Pyrénées National Park on a given day, based on 54 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 225th most-seen of the 1277 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Common Spreadwing in Pyrénées National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to June, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Spreadwing sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Common Spreadwing sightings, Pyrénées National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Cairngorms National Park (United Kingdom, about 20%) and Aigüestortes National Park (Spain, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Spreadwing is recorded against all the insects logged in Pyrénées National Park (54 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
