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 horizontally may be provided. These will be displayed at a resolution of 640 pixels but viewers can then click to see them at full resolution
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.
Banded Demoiselle, several
Azure/Common Blue Damselflies, 100+
Red-eyed Damselfly, c.15
Blue-tailed Damselfly, c.10
Large Red Damselfly, c.10
Hairy Dragonfly, 10+
(2 also seen along the canal and 1 in Spiceball Park)
Four-spotted Chaser, 20+ several fresh tenerals
Black-tailed Skimmer, 2 teneral
Emperor Dragonfly, 2 yesterday per Clive Payne and several exuvia today
On a midday visit to the Trap Grounds - totals across all the ponds
1 Hairy Hawker
2 Large Red Damselfly
60 Azure Damselfly - more than half of them paired up
Adam Hartley
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| Azure Damselfly pair |
Clubtail - a few mature males patrolling over the river upstream of the railway bridge. Flying low and fast over the water and being quite distant, I found them difficult to spot. But Alan Holmes was more successful, to whom many thanks! Also one exuvia (probably not fresh) on the bridge abutment upstream from the bridge.
White-legged Damselfly 5+ tenerals in Little Meadow, upstream from the bridge.
Stephen Burch
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| White-legged Damselfly (teneral) [focus stacked] © Stephen Burch |
Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly - At least 12 in the same area where Ian found them. Several pairs in cop.
Blue-tailed Damselfly - 2
Azure Damselfly - c10
Broad-bodied Chaser - 4
Variable Damselfly - several at SP 48717 10734.
Downy Emerald, 1
Hairy Hawkers, 2
Jeremy Dexter
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| Variable Damselfly - male and female (blue form) in tandem © Jeremy Dexter |
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| Variable Damselfly - male © Jeremy Dexter |
Hairy Hawker 4 (3m 1f ovipositing)
Broad-bodied Chaser 1f
Banded Demoiselle 12 (10m)
Beautiful Demoiselle 9 (7m)
Red-eyed Damselfly 7m
Azure/Common Blue Damselfly 3
Gareth Blockley
Orchard Lake SU520969 only:
2-3 Downy Emerald
2-3 Hairy Dragonfly
2+ Four-spotted Chaser
1-2 Azure Damselfly
1-2 Red-eyed Damselfly
Stephen Burch
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| Downy Emerald © Stephen Burch |
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| Downy Emerald © Stephen Burch |
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| Downy Emerald © Stephen Burch |
In garden pond:
2 Large Red Damselfly - tandem pair ovipositing
Paul Wyeth
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| Large Red Damselfly ovipositing © Paul Wyeth |
West pond, adjacent to the Milton Link Road SU497913 (around 18:00):
8m Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly
8 Blue-tailed Damselfly
Ian Lewington
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| Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly © Ian Lewington |
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| Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly © Ian Lewington |
There is free access to this site and parking is available in the Valley Park, Estate:
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| Map showing location of ponds © Ian Lewington |
NB None at Dida Gardens and adjacent site.
Hairy Dragonfly: 1f ovipositing; 1-2 males at SP448484
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| Hairy Dragonfly ovipositing © Paul Wyeth |
3 newly emerged Common Clubtail this morning, drying off in riverside vegetation downstream from Alan's hotspot and closer to the railway bridge. With thanks to Cholsey resident Richard James who located them. The third and fourth pictures are the same individual (with exuvia).
Banded Demoiselle - lots
Beautiful Demoiselle - 4
Azure Damselfly - 3
400m downstream of the bridge:
2 Clubtails
60 Banded Demoiselle
6 Blue-tailed Damselflies
2 Red-eyed Damselflies
Ian Lewington
Mostly along the River and partially around the Borrow Pit Pool.
Hairy Dragonfly 1
Beautiful Demoiselle 9
Large Red Damselfly 1
Azure Damselfly 7
Common Blue Damselfly 2
Retaining wall under towpath. Approx. 3 - 10 metres to west of bridge:
Club-tailed Dragonfly. 2 emerging. Approx. 5 other exuviae.
Beautiful Demoiselle damselfly. Several.
Phil Cruse
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| Clubtail emerging (c) Phil Cruse |
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| Clubtail emerging (c) Phil Cruse |
Club-tailed Dragonfly 6: 5 flying directly off and away. 1 freshly emerged male settled for photos.
Beautiful Demoiselle 2
Banded Demoiselle c. 20
Four Spotted Chaser 1
Hairy Dragonfly 3
Common Blue Damselfly 100's
Geoff Wyatt
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| Clubtail - teneral male (c) Geoff Wyatt |
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| Clubtail - teneral male (c) Geoff Wyatt |
1 May:
1 Hairy Dragonfly at 52.08326, -1.32016.
1 Large Red Damselfly
2 May:
1 Hairy Dragonfly at large pond at 52.08453, -1.32355
Steve Gresty
A garden & pond in West Hanney:
Almost daily from 15th April to date
Large Red Damselfly (M/F, including 2 in tandem)
24th April: Beautiful Demoiselle (F)
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| Beautiful Demoiselle (c) Tim & Ali Baker |
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| Large Red Damselfly (c) Tim & Ali Baker |
In a garden SU528857:
1 Clubtail !
Conor Mackenzie (who also had a Clubtail in a different garden in Sutton Courtenay a few years ago!)
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| Clubtail (c) Conor Mackenzie |
1 Red-eyed Damselfly
5 Common Blue Damselflies
Brian Walker
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| Red-eyed Damselfly © Brian Walker |
John Allen Pit, Dorchester, 27/4
Hairy Dragonfly 3.
Large Red Damselfly 6.
Common Blue Damselfly c30.
River Thames, Church Farm/Day's Lock, 29/4
Club-tailed Dragonfly 1.
Banded Demoiselle 6.
Geoff Wyatt
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| Banded Demoiselle © Geoff Wyatt |
One immature Large Red Damselfly in a garden in the Walton Manor area of Oxford.
Adam Hartley
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| Record shot photo taken with iPhone |
In vegetation near the electricity sub-station:
Common Blue Damselfly : 1 (immature male)
Large Red Damselfly : 1 (immature male)
David Hastings
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| Large Red Damselfly © David Hastings |
In a garden SP423384:
1 Large Red Damselfly
Paul Wyeth
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| Large Red Damselfly basking on Dwarf Buddleia © Paul Wyeth |
At gate to Langley Lane Pit 60 hide SP391018:
1 Common Blue Damselfly (teneral)
Stephen Burch
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| Common Blue Damselfly [focus stacked] © Stephen Burch |
Common Blue Damsel: Several tenerals, c12 in the long grass west of the the John Allen Pit.
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| Common Blue Damselfly © Geoff Wyatt |
Along track to second screen:
1 Hairy Dragonfly
Paul Wyeth
First Oxon record to my knowledge! Steve
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| Hairy Dragonfly © Paul Wyeth |
Despite seemingly ideal conditions last year, several recorders reported lower than expected levels of dragonfly activity.
I've previously posted here the results of analysis of systematic records from Marsh Wood Pond near Wallingford (made by Julian Edwards) and also daily exuviae counts made by Deborah Dunn at her small garden pond. Since then I've also looked at Julian's records from nearby Cholsey Marsh as well as the transect surveys organised BBOWT at their two special Cothill reserves, Dry Sandford Pit and Parsonage Moor.
At the recent BDS on-line Spring meeting, I gave a talk looking these records and examining what they showed for numbers of dragonflies in 2025 compared with earlier years. It is notable that three of four sites showed declines in 2025 relative to 2024, with two sites down to 40% of their 2024 values.
If you would like more information, you can download a pdf of my presentation. There are even videos of the talks from this meeting on the BDS YouTube Channel!
The 2025 season was notable for the hottest summer on record, with its extended drought, which led to long periods of seemingly ideal conditions. Surprisingly however numbers of many of the commoner species at some sites seemed lower than usual. This accorded with some quantitative abundance measures derived from systematic counts made at a few local sites (Marsh Wood Pond and Steeple Aston), which also showed decreases. The rarer species may have been less affected and were still well recorded.
The season started early, no doubt due to the good early spring weather, with a Large Red Damselfly recorded on 15th April and by the end of the month a remarkable total of 11 species had been seen. It was good year for Common Clubtail, with 29 records between 29 April and 7 July. Most were from the traditional area of Cholsey and Goring, although there were several sightings along the Thames upstream to Radley. A report from Chimney Meadows on 17th June was the only sighting upstream of Oxford.
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| Mature Clubtail at Goring Railway Bridge © Ian Lewington |
Another early season species, Downy Emerald, also showed well with as many as 32 records, some from new sites.
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| Downy Emerald at Orchard Lake © Stephen Burch |
Variable Damselfly is an extreme rarity and was again recorded from just two sites: Barton Fields near Abingdon and Dukes Lock Pond northwest of Oxford. The even rarer Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly was only found at one stormwater pond in Didcot, with no reports from the other stormwater ponds at Banbury and Didcot, where it had been found previously. This may well have been due to these ponds becoming too overgrown, given their lack of maintenance. Another struggling species, Emerald Damselfly, appears to continue to decline with just 22 records, from only four sites compared with eight last year.
The hot summer saw the second year of Norfolk Hawker sightings with five records in a period of just 3 days in mid-July, with one fleeting sighting from last year’s site on Otmoor. More extended views of two males were obtained at the new site of Blenheim Park Lake.
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| Norfolk Hawker at Blenheim © Gareth Casburn |
Following last years unprecedented surge in sightings of Lesser Emperor, this attractive species was again seen widely with reports from 11 sites, compared with 12 last year. Hopefully this species will become a welcome established new addition to many county sites.
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| Lesser Emperor at Blenheim © Gareth Casburn |
Another new arrival, Southern Migrant Hawker, was seen more easily at Whitecross Green Wood than at its original stronghold of Otmoor, which was drought affected. Notably there was also a report from Banbury indicating further range expansion northwards.
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| Southern Migrant Hawker at Whitecross Green Wood © Stephen Burch |
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| Southern Migrant Hawker at Whitecross Green Wood © Wayne Bull |
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| Southern Migrant Hawker at Whitecross Green Wood © David Hastings |
The comprehensive Cothill BBOWT transect surveys showed that it was a good year for Keeled Skimmer at both Parsonage Moor and Dry Sandford Pit. However Southern Damselflies showed more variable peak numbers with a small increase at the latter reserve and a small decline at the former. It was again good to see a few reports of Small Red Damselfly (peak count of 4) at Parsonage Moor with a rare single sighting at Dry Sandford Pit.
Small Red-eyed Damselfly is now widespread across the county, but peak counts were modest, with no apparent benefit from the hot settled conditions. The late season Willow Emerald Damselfly continued its range expansion. There were nearly one hundred reports from almost forty sites, with several sightings into early October, both figures being significantly higher than last year.
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| Small Red-eyed Damselfly at Grove Meadows © Stephen Burch |
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| Willow Emerald Damselfly at Grove Meadows © Stephen Burch |
The season came to a somewhat abrupt end due to poor weather, although there was a record of Common Darter as late as 13th November.
Over the year, there were again over 3000 records of 31 species –the equal highest ever species count.
Stephen Burch
March 2026
