Grimsbury Reservoir and River Cherwell - 28 May

Hairy Dragonfly - 9 min (all males)
Red-eyed Damselfly - 5
Blue-tailed Damselfly - 7
Demoiselles - both numerous
Common and Azure Blue damselflies - both numerous

Yesterday - Black-tailed Skimmer - 1 teneral

Gareth Blockley

Lollingdon Hill - 27 May

 3 Broad-bodied Chaser

Alan Dawson

Broad-bodied Chaser 

Didcot - 27 May 2023

Dida Gardens Pond:

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly 4 male 1 female (aurantiaca)
Blue-tailed Damselfly 1 male
Large Red Damselfly 10
Hairy Dragonfly 1f ovipositing
Broad-bodied Chaser 3 teneral 

Great Western Pond (100m west of Dida Gardens)

Emperor 1
Four-spotted Chaser 3

Ian Lewington

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (female, aurantiaca) © Ian Lewington

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (male) © Ian Lewington

Radley - 27 May

Four-spotted Chaser © Mark Chivers

River Thames upstream from Shillingford

Clubtail  3
Hairy Dragonfly  4
White-legged Damselfly  14
Four-spot Chaser  3
Black-tailed Skimmer  1f
Blue-tailed Damselfly  6

Ian Lewington

Clubtail © Ian Lewington

 Hairy Dragonfly © Ian Lewington

White-legged Damselfly © Ian Lewington

Banbury Area - 19 May - 26 May

19/05/23 - River Cherwell, Grimsbury Reservoir

SP 45901 41728 to SP 46537 42684 but mostly near the railway bridge

Hairy Dragonfly - 1 (teneral male? - picture attached)
Large Red Damselfly - 1 (picture)
Blue-tailed Damselfly -1 
Azure Blue Damselfly - 7 (picture)
Common Blue Damselfly - 3
Beautiful Demoiselle - c.50!
Banded Demoiselle - c.10

20/05/23 - River Cherwell, Grimsbury Reservoir

Location as above

Very similar species with differences being

Hairy Dragonfly - 5 - 4 mature males and a pair in cop
Broad-bodied Chaser - 1 teneral
Large Red Damselfly - 4 (inc. pair in cop)
Numerous teneral Blue Damselflies
Banded Demoiselle - c.20

20/05/23 - Clattercote Reservoir - Mike Pollard

Hairy Dragonfly - 3-4

21/05/23 - River Cherwell, Grimsbury Reservoir - Clive Payne

Hairy Dragonfly - 1

26/05/23 - Clattercote Reservoir

Hairy Dragonfly - min 7 - 6 mature males and a female egg laying and then grabbed by a male and taken up to a tree (picture)
Four-spotted Chaser - 1
Red-eyed Damselfly - min 33 (inc. 6 pairs in cop)
Common Blue Damselfly - 11 (inc. 3 pairs in cop)
Blue-tailed Damselfly - 8
Azure Damselfly - 4 (inc. 1 pair in cop)

Gareth Blockley

Large Red Damselfly © Gareth Blockley

Hairy Dragonfly © Gareth Blockley

Cholsey - 26 May 23

 Bow Bridge:

1 Clubtail
White-legged Damselfly

Ferry Lane to Four Arches Bridge:

Beautiful Demoiselle
Banded Demoiselle
Large Red Damselfly
Four-spotted Chaser
Red-eyed Damselfly
Blue-tailed Damselfly
Azure Damselfly
Common Blue Damselfly
Hairy Dragonfly

Alan Dawson

White-legged Damselfly © Alan Dawson

Gatehampton Railway Bridge (Goring) - 26 May

 Clubtails:

2 Exuviae (excluding the emergent)
1 Emergent
2 recently emerged

Also many Banded Demoiselle

NB more vegetation than previously above the bridge abutment (which is also being eroded from behind the wall - care needed!), so difficult to see exuviae and emergents. 

Stephen Burch

Emerged Clubtail with exuvia © Stephen Burch

Rousham Lakes and Steeple Barton Lake - 26 May

Rousham Lakes (Private Site) :-

10+ Beautiful Demoiselle
6 Large Red Damsels
Common & Azure Damsels
15+ Red Eyed Damsels
12+ Downy Emerald inc 2 Females 1 ovipositing
20+ Four Spotted Chaser

Steeple Barton Lake (Public access to southern end of lake through church yard then footpath) :-

6+ Beautiful Demoiselle
Common & Azure Damsels
1 Blue Tailed Damsel
10+ Red Eyed Damsels
4+ Downy Emerald 
10+ Four Spotted Chaser

Wayne Bull

Downy Emeralds © Wayne Bull

Parsonage Moor - 26 May

Southern Damselfly: 32 including 6 pairs in tandem.
Common Blue Damselfly: 13
Large Red Damselfly: 4
Keeled Skimmer: 2 imm males and a female
Hairy Dragonfly: 2
Broad-bodies Chaser: 1m
Four-spotted Chaser: 5
Black-tailed Skimmer: 2m & 1f 

Peter Philp

Teneral Keeled Skimmer © Peter Philp

Southern Damselfly © Peter Philp

R. Thames near Shillingford - 25 May

First records of White-legged Damselflies this year for me at this site. 66 Banded Demoiselles, 43 Azure Damselflies, 4 White-legged Damselflies (all ternal), 2 Blue-tailed Damselflies.

Entered on iRecord

John Bloomfield

White-legged Damselfly (c) John Bloomfield

Abingdon area - 25 May pm

 Abingdon Lock:

Common Clubtail: 1m perched briefly on the handrail of the weir.

Also one on the Thames about halfway between Barton Fields and the cut through to Orchard Lake.

Barton Fields area including fishing pool and ditch towards lock:

Common Blue Damselfly: 60+
Azure Damselfly: 30+
Blue-tailed Damselfly: 20+
Large Red Damselfly: 12
Banded Demoiselle: 60+
Red-eyed Damselfly: 12

Orchard Lake:

Downy Emerald: 2
Hairy Dragonfly: 2
Four-spotted Chaser: 5
Broad-bodied Chaser: 1 
Red-eyed Damselfly: 30+
Common Blue Damselfly: 6
Azure Damselfly 3

Peter Philp

Radley Lakes & Barton Field - 25 May 2023

Thrupp Lake:

Common Blue Damselfly: 20+
Red-eyed  Damselfly: 1-2
Blue-tailed Damselfly: 1
No sign of any Downy Emeralds

Barton Field - fishing pool:

Hairy Dragonfly 2+
Four-spotted Chaser 1
Common Blue Damselfly: 2+

NB: access to the northern shore blocked by a large fallen tree. 

Stephen Burch 

River Thames at Cholsey - 24 May 2023

1 Red-eyed Damselfly

Alan Dawson

 Red-eyed Damselfly © Alan Dawson

Chimney Meadows, 24th May

Sightings were near the bridge over the lock cut.  (SP366007)

Banded Demoiselle : 60+
Red-eyed Damselfly : 1
Blue-tailed Damselfly : 2
Common Blue Damselfly : 5+
Common Clubtail : 1

Banded Demoiselle ♂© David Hastings

Banded Demoiselle ♀© David Hastings

Common Clubtail (immature ♂) © David Hastings

David Hastings

Cholsey - River Thames near Four Arches Bridge: 24 May 2023

1 Clubtail

Alan Dawson

Clubtail © Alan Dawson

Scantlebury Road Pond, Wantage - 24 May 2023

Covered by almost 100% duck weed. Only Odonata were at west end where a little clear water for now. 

Large Red Damselfly: 1
Azure Damselfly: 3

Stephen Burch

 

Grove Meadows - 24 May 2023

Azure Damselfly: 50-100 at least. Many in cop
Common Blue Damselfly: a few on E side
Red-eyed Damselfly: 1 pair in cop + 1
Blue-tailed Damselfly: 1
No dragonflies yet.

Stephen Burch

Azure Damselfly (f) © Stephen Burch

Springs Golf Club at North Stoke - 23 May

1 Clubtail. 

"Flew into my golf bag on the 14th hole at the Springs Golf Club at North Stoke just south of Wallingford"!!

Jeremy Dexter

Mobile phone photo of a Clubtail in a golf bag © Jeremy Dexter

University Parks - 18 May

Around SP51740755 

2 Large Red Damselflies in cop
1 Blue-tailed Damselfly 
1+ m Broad-bodied Chaser

Jake Dudderidge

Large Red Damselflies © Jake Dudderidge

Cholsey - 22 May

Cholsey Meadows:

c.5 Four-spotted Chaser
Azure Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly

River Thames at Cholsey:

Clubtail 2
Banded Demoiselle
Beautiful Demoiselle
Common Blue Damselfly
Azure Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly

Alan Dawson

Common Blue Damselfly © Alan Dawson

Azure Damselflies © Alan Dawson

Four-spotted Chaser © Alan Dawson

Parsonage Moor pm - 22nd May

Hairy Hawker (m)
Broad-bodied Chaser (1m, 2f)

Shillingford to Little Wittenham - 20 May

13 Banded Demoiselle, 24 Azure Damselflies, 1 Blue-tailed Damselfly, 100+ Common Blue Damselfly, 8 Large Red Damselflies, 3 Hairy Dragonflies, 2 Four-spotted Chasers, and 1 Clubtail (F).

Entered in iRecord

Hairy Dragonfly (male) (c) John Blomfield

Four-spotted Chaser (c) John Bloomfield

Clubtail (female) (c) John Bloomfield

 

Dry Sandford Pit and Parsonage Moor - 18 May

Parsonage Moor:

Large Red Damselfly - 1
Common Blue Damselfly - 1
Broad Bodied Chaser - 1
Black-tailed Skimmer 1

Dry Sandford Pit:

Large Red Damselfly -18

Southern Damselfly - 1F

Keeled Skimmer -1 (very fresh!)

Peter Philp

Trap Grounds 20th May

2 Downy Emeralds (m & f) on the main pond

Also
30+Azure Damselflies including several pairs in tandem
2 Large Red Damselflies in tandem

Pair of Azure Damselflies in tandem

Thames at Shillingford - 19 May

13 Banded Demoiselle, 6 Azure Damselflies and 2 Blue-tailed Damselflies including a female rufescens form.

Records entered in iRecord 

Banded Demoiselle male (c) John Bloomfield

Azure Damselfly male (c) John Bloomfield

Blue-tailed Damselfly female (rufescens form) (c) John Bloomfield

Otmoor, 18th May

Azure Damselfly : 100+
Hairy Hawker : 3

David Hastings

Azure Damselfly © David Hastings

Appleford Gravel Pit - 16 May

1 Banded Demoiselle
2 Common Blue Damselfly 

SU519947

Steve Curnock

Banded Demoiselle (c) Steve Curnock 

Common Blue Damselfly (f) (c) Steve Curnock 

Cholsey Marsh - 17th May

Clubtail (record shot)

Clubtail (imm fem) drying off @ 10:50, then flew high

+ lots of Banded Demoiselle

River Thames at Cholsey - 16 May

1 Four spotted Chaser

Alan Dawson

Four spotted Chaser (c) Alan Dawson 

Cholsey - Four Arches Bridge area

6 Clubtails in 2 hours!

Alan Dawson 

Clubtail (c) Alan Dawson 

Standlake Common Langley Lane - 14 May

 1 Hairy Dragonfly (highly probable)

Mick Cunningham 

River of Life downstream from Clifton Hampden - 14 May

Incredible total of 27 Clubtails and 11 exuviae!!

Between  SU 55204 95736 to 55261 95766

Very freshly emerged with some not in full colour yet and one emergent

Total records for day were:

Clubtail - 27

Common Blue damsel -30 

Red Eye - 5

Large red - 2

Blue tailed - 12

Banded demoiselle - 54

Southern Hawker - 4

Broad bodied chaser - 1

Mark Bradfield

One of 27 Clubtails! (c) Mark Bradfield 

Trap Grounds, Oxford 14th May

In the absence of Nicola Devine, this site is sadly not getting the coverage it deserves.

1 Large Red Damselfly (FoY for site)
1 Azure Damselfly (FoY for site on the 11th)

Adam Hartley

Large Red Damselfly

 

Azure Damselfly

Goring on Thames - 12 May

1 Clubtail

In a herbaceous border about 1km east of the river near Gatehampton Road! Perched for 4 hours until dusk.

Peter Singer per iRecord

Clubtail (c) Peter Singer

Cholsey - Bow Bridge 11 May

1 Beautiful Demoiselle

Alan Dawson 

Beautiful Demoiselle (c) Alan Dawson 

Day's Lock - 7 May

Up river from Day's Lock, Little Wittenham today:

Club-tailed Dragonfly 1f immature 
Banded Demoiselle 1m
Common Blue Damselfly 1m, 1f

Geoff Wyatt

Clubtail (imm. f) (c) Geoff Wyatt 

Boundary Brook NR - 5 May

1 Large Red Damselfly

Helen Edwards 

Oxford - Iffley 5 May

1 Large Red Damselfly

1 Broad bodied Chaser

Steve Roby

Broad-bodied Chaser (c) Steve Roby

Large Red Damselfly (c) Steve Roby 

Letcombe Brook south of Wantage - 5 May

 1 Large Red Damselfly

Mark Bradfield

Large Red Damselfly (c) Mark Bradfield