THE Canal & River Trust will be holding a training session in its Gloucester office on Saturday, April 26, 10am-2pm to learn about dragonflies and damselflies and how to spot them.

The session will be held by the trust’s ecologist Laura Plenty, who will explain how to identify the more common dragonflies and damselflies that people are likely to see along the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal and try to get them to adopt a 100 metre section to survey over the summer.

The surveys will be in line with the British Dragonflies Society Monitoring Scheme. To download your free ticket visit eventbrite.co.uk The Canal & River Trust has warned that the wettest winter on record could have had a lasting impact on populations of dragonflies and damselflies.

The trust is asking people to help monitor the insects as part of its annual Great Nature Watch.

Fluctuating river levels and fast currents are known to wash away dragonfly larva (or nymphs).

As larva live underwater for up to three years, our unprecedented floods may have a long-term effect on dragonfly populations.

Dragonflies are an ancient species, whose ancestors were around before the dinosaurs.

While many of us recognise them as beautiful, iridescent, flying summer insects, they in fact spend the majority of their lives as underwater larva.

They emerge on the wing for a few brief months to mate and lay their eggs before dying.

The Great Nature Watch asks you to record your sightings of all wildlife you see on any of Gloucestershire’s canals, rivers, reservoirs or lakes. For information visit canalrivertrust.org.uk/great-nature-watch