Waterperry Wood, 31st May

Beautiful Demoiselle 3
Broad-bodied Chaser 1

Immature male Beautiful Demoiselle © David Hastings

©

Goring Railway Bridge - 28 May

Animation sequence of the emergence:

For larger images, click here

Clubtail emergence (c) Stephen Burch

Culham Lock - 30 May

Thames path west of lock (SU505948)

5+ White-legged Damselfly
1 Emperor
1m mature Black-tailed Skimmer
Common Blue Damselfly
Red-eyed Damselfly
Blue-tailed Damselfly

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White-legged Damselfly (c) Stephen Burch

Radley Boathouse area - 30 May

1 Emperor

Daniel Moden

Emperor (c) Daniel Moden

Earth Trust, Little Wittenham - 30 May

Banded Demoiselle (plentiful)
Common Blue Damselfly (plentiful)
Azure Damselfly (plentiful)
Blue-tailed Damselfly (8)
White-legged Damselfly (9 individuals plus two pairs in cop - first sightings of the year for me)
Large Red Damselfly (4)
Hairy Dragonfly (3)
Emperor (5)
Four-spotted Chaser (plentiful)
Broad-bodied Chaser (4)
Black-tailed Skimmer (7, all tenerals)
Ruddy Darter (11, all tenerals)

John Bloomfield

White-legged Damselfly (c) John Bloomfield

Clifton Meadows - 30 May

Survey starting at SU553956

Common Blue Damselfly 251
Large Red Damselfly 1
Blue tailed damselfly 16
Red eyed damselfly 127
Banded Demoiselle 70
Beautiful Demoiselle 1
Southern Hawker 7
Emperor 8
Common Club-tail 1  SU554957
Broad-bodied Chaser 1
Four spotted Chaser 4

Mark Bradfield

Common Clubtail (c) Mark Bradfield

Four-spotted Chaser (c) Mark Bradfield

Otmoor - 30 May

Red Eyed Damselfly - pond by the Lower Farm track by the Noke Bridleway
1 Beautiful Demoiselle -  by the pumping station
2 Downy Emerald - one on the Lower Farm pond again and the other in the dyke nearby
1 Hairy Dragonfly

John Edwards

Sparsey Bridge at Water Eaton - 30 May

Beautiful Demoiselles
1 Hairy Dragonfly

Jeremy Dexter

Beautiful Demoiselles (c) Jeremy Dexter

Hairy Dragonfly (c) Jeremy Dexter

River Thames at Goring, 30th May

Banded Demoiselle 28
Red-eyed Damselfly 34
Common Blue Damselfly
Common Clubtail 3 (2 mature males in bankside vegetation north of the railway bridge, and 1 flying around one of the bridge buttresses)

Common Clubtail ♂© David Hastings

Parsonage Moor, 29th May

Southern Damselfly 20+
Broad-bodied Chaser 6
Four-spotted Chaser 1
Black-tailed Skimmer 2
Keeled Skimmer 2

Keeled Skimmer ♂© David Hastings

Southern Damselfly ♂© David Hastings

Abingdon, 29th May

A teneral Black-tailed Skimmer paid a brief visit to my garden at around midday today.

Black-tailed Skimmer © David Hastings

Barton Fields, 29th May

At the fishing pond (SU512970) 10-11am

Banded Demoiselle 2
Red-eyed Damselfly 40+
Common Blue Damselfly
Variable Damselfly
Blue-tailed Damselfly 1
Hairy Hawker 1
Downy Emerald 2

Downy Emerald ♂© David Hastings

Goring (Gatehampton) Railway Bridge - 17 May

Belated news of yet another emerging Clubtail!

Anthony Flemming

Emerging Clubtail (c) Anthony Flemming

Trap Grounds, Oxford - 29 May

2 Hairy Dragonflies
1m Beautiful Damselfly
1f Banded Damselfly

Nicola Devine

Beautiful Damselfly (c) Nicola Devine

Wantage - 29 May

Just downstream of Mill Street at about 1.30 today. SU 39697 88068.

1m & 1f Beautiful Demoiselle

Mark Bradfield

Female Beautiful Demoiselle (c) Mark Bradfield

Trap Grounds, Oxford - 28 May

2 Ruddy Darter (first of season)
1 Hairy Dragonfly
1f Banded Demoiselle
Plentiful Azures, Blue-tailed and Large Red Damsels

Nicola Devine

Hairy Dragonfly (c) Nicola Devine 

Ruddy Darter (c) Nicola Devine

Otmoor - 28 May

2 Downy Emerald: One was in the dyke by the bridleway and the other on the pond at the Lower Farm track junction by the pumping station. 
1 Hairy Dragonfly
Numerous Four-spotted Chaser

John Edwards

Hairy Dragonfly (c) John Edwards 

Four-spotted Chaser (c) John Edwards

Goring Railway Bridge - 28 May

1 emerging Clubtail
11 exuviae including the above
1 Emperor - Little Meadow
5+ Red-eyed Damselflies  - Little Meadow
Banded Demoiselles

For a larger image, click here

Clubtail with exuvia [focus stacked] (c) Stephen Burch

Bow Bridge, Cholsey - 28 May am

1 mature mail Clubtail

Alan Dawson

Otmoor, 27th May

Hairy Hawker 10+
Four-spotted Chaser 2
Broad-bodied Chaser 1
Azure, Common Blue & Large Red Damselflies

Hairy Hawker ♀ © David Hastings

River Thames between Sandford Lock and Radley Boathouse - 27 May

3 Hairy Dragonflies (2m, 1f)
Numerous Banded Demoiselles and Red-eyed Damselfies
2 Blue-tailed Damselflies
1 Black-tailed Skimmer

Daniel Moden

Immature Black-tailed Skimmer (c) Daniel Moden

Hairy Dragonfly (c) Daniel Moden

Dry Sandford Pit, 26th May

Broad-bodied Chaser 1
Keeled Skimmer 1
Black-tailed Skimmer 1 (first one I'd ever seen at the pit)

Keeled Skimmer © David Hastings

Black-tailed Skimmer © David Hastings

Otmoor - 26 May

1 Emperor

Steve Roby

Emperor (c) Steve Roby

Trap Grounds, Oxford 26 May

3m Hairy Dragonfly
1f Broad-bodied Chaser
1 Four-spotted Chaser
 Plentiful Azure, Blue-tailed and Large Red Damselflies

Nicola Devine

Four-spotted Chaser (c) Nicola Devine

Barton Fields, 25th May

At the fishing pond (SU512970) 11 - 11:45am:

Banded Demoiselle 1
Red-eyed Damselfly 10+ (1 pair in tandem)
Large Red Damselfly 2
Common Blue Damselfly 20+

Azure Damselfly 20+

Variable Damselfly 5m, 2f (two pairs in cop)

Hairy Hawker 1
Downy Emerald 2

Red-eyed Damselflies © David Hastings

Variable Damselflies © David Hastings

Trap Grounds, Oxford - 25 May

1 Broad bodied Chaser
2m Hairy Dragonflies
1f Common Blue Damsel (blue phase)
20+ Large Red Damsels
2f & 1m Banded Demoiselle
Many Azure and Blue-tailed Damsels

Nicola Devine

Blue-tailed Damselfly  [form rufescens]  (c) Nicola Devine

Broad-bodied Chaser  (c) Nicola Devine

Hairy Dragonfly (c) Nicola Devine

Lower Heyford - 24 May

1f Beautiful Demoiselle in garden (OX25)

Norman Smith

Beautiful Demoiselle (c) Norman Smith

Rives Thames: Shifford Lock to Tenfoot Bridge (VC23 side)

2+ Hairy Dragonfly
2+ Emperor
Numerous Banded Demoiselle
1 Blue-tailed Damsel
3+ Red-eyed Damsel - near Duxford Ford (VC22)

Stephen Burch

Click here for a larger image

Banded Demoiselle (c) Stephen Burch

South Leigh - 23 May

Azure Damselfly shortly after emerging (c) Barry Hudson

Broadleaze Farm, Sparsholt - 24 May

1 Beautiful Demoiselle
1 Large Red Damselfly
10+ Azure Damselfly
4 (inc 1 mature male) Broad-bodied Chaser

Along drainage ditch/tiny stream SU340891

Stephen Burch

Cholsey - 22 May

1m & 1f Beautiful Demoiselle
Along ‘The Drift’ between the Bunk line and the Wallingford Road. Also known as Green Lane.

Alan Dawson

Probable Beautiful Demoiselle (c) Alan Dawson

Jeremy Dexter comments as follows on the above photo:

"On initial view this looks good for Beautiful as the wings appear brownish and the white spot is well placed.  However the wings do have a green tint and the antenodal cross veins don’t look right to me so I have my doubts on the ID - maybe sometimes it isn’t possible to be 100% sure. Immature males (e.g. the one on the Cholsey blog) are much easier to ID so at least confirms Beautiful on site".

Trap Grounds - 23 May

1 Downy Emerald. Probably first site record.

Well done Nicola Devine!

Downy Emerald (c) Nicola Devine

Radley Lakes and Barton Fields - 20 May

Orchard Lake:
5+ Hairy Dragonfly
1 Downy Emerald
5+ Four-spotted Chaser
Azure and Large Red Damselflies

Barton Fields
Fishing pond
1-2 Downy Emeralds
2+ Hairy Dragonflies
Red-eyed Damselflies
Azure and Large Red Damselflies
Banded Demoiselles

Fourth pool
1m Broad-bodied Chaser
Azure, Large Red, Blue-tailed Damselflies
Banded Demoiselles

Downy Emerald (c) Stephen Burch

Go to this page on my website for a larger image

Sparsey Bridge at Water Eaton - 20 May

Beautiful Demoiselle: Good numbers now much more concentrated in only a couple of locations - seem to prefer sunlit bankside vegetation including areas of nettles with nearby trees/bushes.
2 Hairy Dragonflies
1 Large Red Damselfly

 Jeremy Dexter

 Female immature Beautiful and Banded Demoiselles (c) Jeremy Dexter

Note that in the immature phase of both male and female Beautiful Demoiselles, their wings are effectively light orange, which makes ID very simple, compared to the adult phase.

Female immature Beautiful Demoiselle in flight (c) Jeremy Dexter

Otmoor, 19th May

Azure Damselfly 100+
Common Blue Damselfly 2 (probably more)
Large Red Damselfly 3
Hairy Hawker 6
Broad-bodied Chaser 1
Four-spotted Chaser 5

Broad-bodied Chaser © David Hastings

Azure Damselflies © David Hastings

Radley Boathouse 19 May

1 adult Clubtail on Thames path nearby
3 new Clubtail exuviae on the Boathouse wall
1 Hairy Dragonfly on river
Numerous Banded Demoiselle on path to Sandford Lock

Daniel Moden

Trap Grounds - 17/18 May

17 May
1  Blue tailed Damselfly
1f Azure Damselfly (rarer blue form)

18 May
1f Banded Demoiselle

Nicola Devine

Azure Damselfly (blue form) (c) Nicola Devine

Sparsey Bridge at Water Eaton - 17 May

25 - 30 immature males and females Beautiful Demoiselles on the River Cherwell on either side of Sparsey Bridge at Water Eaton. SP518119

Jeremy Dexter

Beautiful Demoiselle (c) Jeremy Dexter

Trap Grounds 15 May

Azure Damselflies: at the Dragonfly Pond, singly & in tandem and ovipositing. Also in the grasses around the site and at Swan and Tims Ponds.
Large Red Damselflies: several around the Dragonfly Pond, one pair ovipositing.
1m Broad bodied Chaser.

Nicola Devine

Broad bodied Chaser (c) Nicola Devine

Large-red Damselflies (c) Nicola Devine