A blog for sightings of Dragonflies and Damselflies in Oxfordshire. To submit records and photos for posting, just email stephen_burchemail at yahoo.co.uk. Photos with resolutions up to 2400 pixels in maximum dimension (horizontal or vertical) may be provided. These will be displayed at a resolution of 640 pixels but viewers can then click to see them at full resolution
White-legged Damselfly 5+: downstream end of Little Meadow
No sign of any Clubtails over the river or on the bushes.
Remarkable absence of Banded Demoiselle as well - none seen! Has anyone else noticed a lack of this normally numerous species this year?
Stephen Burch
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| White-legged Damselfly [focus-stacked] © Stephen Burch |
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| White-legged Damselfly [focus-stacked] © Stephen Burch |
(Southern?) Migrant Hawker. 8-10 ( none seen anywhere else) - see note below
Emperor 6 incl. ovipositing
Hairy Dragonfly One at the westerly pond
Common Darter 10 plus imm. along the rides
Four spot Chaser 7
Large Red Damselfly 1
Common Blue Damselfly 2 at least
Azure Damselfly 30 at least
Blue tailed Damselfly 4
Beautiful Demoiselle 1 male
Banded Demoiselle 1 male
Black tailed Skimmer 3
Broad bodied Chaser 1 fem. Ovipositing
White legged Damselfly 4 along the rides.
John Edwards
Note John has provided the following description of the 8-10 hawkers he saw in the car park:
"In the car park were 8-10 hawkers zooming about in a loose group. I initially thought of Southern Migrant Hawker due to their yellow colouring but that number seems not feasible. I then thought Migrant Hawker but surely too early? I have never seen this amount of yellow immatures before, let alone in June. They did not settle at all and were too fast for a photo of any kind"
Any thoughts anyone?
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| Common Darter (teneral) © John Edwards |
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| White-legged Damselfly © John Edwards |
Red-veined Darter - 1 male seen briefly over the water at the north end of the Queen Pool near the Fisheries Cottage. Despite giving it an hour or so, I didn't see it again. A brief view of another pale darter could possibly have been a female but too brief a view and no photos to confirm. I didn't see any other darters.
Lesser Emperor - 1 male seen in the same spot as the darter.
Parsonage Moor
Broad-bodied chaser - 1
Large red damselfly - 1
Azure damselfly - c. 10
Four-spotted chaser - 4
Emperor dragonfly - 2
Hairy dragonfly - 1
Keeled skimmer - 3
Blue-tailed damselfly - 2
Black-tailed skimmer - 1
Southern damselfly - c. 20
Cothill NNR
Black-tailed skimmer - 4
Broad-bodied chaser - 2
Emperor dragonfly - 2
Four-spotted chaser - 1
Hairy dragonfly - 1
Small red damselfly - c. 10
Blue-tailed damselfly - 2
Large red damselfy - 2
Keeled skimmer - 2
Beautiful demoiselle - 1
Lots of azures/common blues
Oxford Botanic Garden
Azure damselfly
Red-eyed damselfly
Small red-eyed damselfly
Blue-tailed damselfly
Broad-bodied chaser
Emperor dragonfly - 2 egg-laying females
Eoin Morris
Lesser Emperor, 2.
A male and female in tandem, harassed by a male Emperor.
Geoff Wyatt
This newly created site, serving new housing development to the west of Chalgrove (51.674778, -1.100130; SU623977) yielded:
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| Broad-bodied Chaser |
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| Black-tailed Skimmers |
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| Four-spotted Chaser |
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| The maturing larger pond - SU 62310 97728 |
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| A new second pond |
Common Blue Damselfly
Azure Damselfly
Emperor 1m
Four-spotted Chaser 1
Black-tailed Skimmer 1
Stephen Burch
NB Gate now secured by a padlocked chain
2 Lesser Emperor - first site record?
1 Southern Migrant Hawker - teneral male
10+ White-Legged Damselflies
Jeremy Dexter
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| Southern Migrant Hawker (teneral male) © Jeremy Dexter |
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| Blue-tailed Damselfly ovipositing © Paul Wyeth |
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| Azure Damselfly (m) © Paul Wyeth |
A brief visit to check the pools. Small numbers of Emperor Dragonfly, Black-tailed Skimmer and blue damselflies seen, but no darters.
The pool that the Red-veined Darters were ovipositing in is drying out rather rapidly.
Lesser Emperor 1
Seen patrolling the stream that feeds from the Thames to Church Farm Backwaters, approximately 1km north of Day's Lock.
Bicester Wetland Reserve Dragonfly survey 13 June 2026
Banded Demoiselle 6m 2f
Common Blue Damselfy 21m 3f including 2 pairs in tandem and 1 pair in cop.
Azure Damselfy 5m
Blue-tailed Damselfy 5m
Red-eyed Damselfy 2m
Emperor 5m
Four-spotted Chaser 4
Broad-bodied Chaser 3m 1 f – female ovipositing
Black-tailed Skimmer 11m 6f including 4 pair in cop and 2 females ovipositing
Steve Holliday and Gareth Blockley
10:30 to 12:30
Beautiful Demoiselle : 1
Azure Damselfly : 20+
Common Blue Damselfly : 4
Blue-tailed Damselfly : 1
White-legged Damselfly : 8
Emperor Dragonfly: 6
Hairy Hawker : 1
Four-spotted Chaser : 9
Black-tailed Skimmer : 1
David Hastings
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| White-legged Damselfly ♂ © David Hastings |
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| Four-spotted Chaser ♂ © David Hastings |
3 Common blue-tailed damselflies (Ischnura elegans) - 2 males and 1 female
1 Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) - male
1 Hairy Hawker (Brachytron pratense)
1 Downy Emerald and (Cordulia aenea)
1 Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa) - female or immature male
At least 3 Ruddy Darters (Sympetrum sanguineum) - all immatures
Azure Damselflies in good numbers.
Eoin Morris
From Buckthorn Meadow to Pinkhill 14:45 to 16:00
Banded Demoiselle 6
Azure Damselfly 50+
Blue-tailed Damselfly 3
Red-eyed Damselfly 3
Emperor Dragonfly 1 (♀ ovipositing)
Four-spotted Chaser 4
Black-tailed Skimmer 2
David Hastings
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| Red-eyed Damselfly ♂ © David Hastings |
I was surprised to find an immature male Beautiful Demoiselle in my garden in Aston, west Oxon this afternoon.
David Hastings
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| Immature male Beautiful Demoiselle © David Hastings |
Belated news of a first site record:
1 Four-spotted Chaser
Helen Edwards
Both lakes checked but not the stream.
Hairy Dragonfly, 6
Darter sp., 1 adult male seen distantly and briefly 3 times over the large lake. Considering time of year, the national influx and having just found the Wroxton Quarry Red-veined Darters, I think there is a good chance this was another one.
12 species recorded (not including the unidentified darter) with other more common species quite numerous. For example, easily over 1000 Azure and Common Blue Damselflies mostly over the lake surfaces.
Hairy Dragonfly, 3 - SP 4707 4041
I think it's now reasonable to assume all suitable habitats in Banbury has this species.
SU 508 983:
1 Beautiful Demoiselle
Mike Flemming
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| Beautiful Demoiselle © Mike Flemming |
Multiple Odonata twitchers turned out on Sunday morning for yesterday's Red-veined Darters which fortunately obliged under more changeable weather conditions today.
3+ male Red-veined Darters
2 male Black-tailed Skimmers
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| All photos courtesy of Ian Lewington |
Clubtail: At least 4 along the Thames from the Nags Head to Sutton Courtenay
Conor Mackenzie
At the river cut-off/pond SU501972:
1 Downy Emerald - 31 May
1 Clubtail - 29 May (Also two seen by Emma Hunter 14 May)
Martin Green
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| Clubtail © Martin Green |
3 Hairy Dragonflies,
10s Azure Damselflies,
4 Blue-tailed Damselflies
James Wainscoat
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| Hairy Dragonfly © James Wainscoat |
Azure Damselfly 2
Large Red Damselfly 3
Beautiful Demoiselle 1m,3f
Keeled Skimmer 1
Broad-bodied Chaser 1
David Hastings
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| Keeled Skimmer © David Hastings |
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| Beautiful Demoiselle ♂ © David Hastings |
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| Beautiful Demoiselle ♀ © David Hastings |
Banded Demoiselle 6m,6f
Azure Damselfly 50+
Large Red Damselfly 2
Blue-tailed Damselfly 2
White-legged Damselfly 2
David Hastings
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| Blue-tailed Damselfly © David Hastings |
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| Banded Demoiselle ♂ © David Hastings |
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| White-legged Damselfly ♀ © David Hastings |
White-legged Damselfly: 20+ - mainly in grass along the rides
Large Red Damselfly: 10+
Blue-tailed Damselfly: 10+
Common Blue/Azure Damselfly: many
Hairy Dragonfly: 2
Emperor Dragonfly: 3
Four-spotted Chaser Dragonfly: 10+
Broad-bodied Chaser Dragonfly: 4
Phil Cruse
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| White-legged Damselfly © Phil Cruse |
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| Four-spotted Chaser © Phil Cruse |
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| Broad-bodied Chaser © Phil Cruse |
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| Hawker sp. exuvia, probably Emperor © Phil Cruse |
A morning visit to Duke's Lock Pond (SP4871710734) found lots of good Odonata action.
Along the west side in the sunny patches of vegetation between the path and the railway
Variable Damselfly 5+
Common Damselfly 2+
Azure Damselfly 3+
Also fly-throughs by male Black-tailed Skimmer & Hairy Dragonfly
On the main pond
Hairy Dragonfly
Downy Emerald 2
Emperor: f ovipositing
Broad-bodies Chaser: f ovipositing
Black-tailed Skimmer: f ovipositing
Also a possible Red-veined Darter seen once in flight. Given the time of year and the definite red tinted wings it's a good candidate but I only saw it briefly in flight once. Maybe someone with a decent camera can get a proper photo of it and firm it up.
Adam Hartley
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| Male Variable Damselfly |
Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly: 3 Aurantiaca females, 3 females in transition (below), 5 pairs in cop and c10 males
Ian Lewington
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| Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (female in transition) © Ian Lewington |
SU511971:
1m Variable Damselfly
1 Downy Emerald
1 Hairy Dragonfly
Ian Lewington
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| Male Variable Damselfly © Ian Lewington |
Clubtail - 4 or 5 males patrolling upstream of the bridge near the bend in the river, occasionally landing in the nettles and vegetation on the bank.
White-legged Damselfly - 3 seen in the vegetation bordering the river.
Plenty of Banded Demoiselles and Red-eyed Damselflies.
