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 1280 pixels may be provided. These will be displayed at a resolution of 640 pixels horizontally but viewers can then click to see them at full resolution
Bodicote Fishing Lake:-
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| Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (c) Wayne Bull |
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| White-legged Damselfly (c) Wayne Bull |
10s Blue Damselflies
4 Ruddy Darters
James Wainscoat
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| Ruddy Darter © James Wainscoat |
Southern Hawker (1st of year)
Beautiful Demoiselle's 2m 2f
Common Darter 1
Ruddy Darter 1m (another Darter seen but couldn’t ID)
Azure Damselflies approx 40
Blue-tailed Damselflies 10+
Nicola Devine
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| Common Darter © Nicola Devine |
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| Southern Hawker © Nicola Devine |
Beautiful Demoiselle 4 (1m, 3f)
Brown Hawker (first of year)
Ruddy Darter 1m
Azures 40+ some in cop. some ovipositing
Blue-tailed 5+
Nicola Devine
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| Beautiful Demoiselle (male) © Nicole Devine |
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| Beautiful Demoiselle (female) © Nicole Devine |
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| Azure Damselflies © Nicole Devine |
10s of Small Red-eyed Damselflies
1 Four spotted Chaser
2 Emperor dragonfly
James Wainscoat
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| Small Red-eyed Damselflies in cop.© James Wainscoat |
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| Small Red-eyed Damselflies in cop.© James Wainscoat |
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| Emperor & Four-spotted Chaser © James Wainscoat |
5 Banded Demoiselle
8 Emerald Damsels (6 males 2 females) Orchard Lake
100's Common Blue Damsels
30+ Azure Damsels
2 Variable Damsels (Barton pool)
20+ Blue Tailed Damsels
15+ Red Eyed Damsels
2 Hairy Dragonflies
4 Emperor Dragonflies
1 Brown Hawker
1 Downy Emerald (Orchard Lake)
15+ Four Spotted Chaser
20+ Black Tailed Skimmer
6 Ruddy Darter (Tenerals)
Wayne Bull
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| Emerald Damselfly © Wayne Bull |
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| Variable Damselfly © Wayne Bull |
10+ Small Red-eyed Damselfly
Blue Damselflies (Azure only positively identified)
2-3 Blue-tailed Damselfly
2+m Emperor
3+ Four-spotted Chaser
1-2 Black-tailed Skimmer
2 teneral Ruddy Darter
Stephen Burch
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| Small Red-eyed Damselfly (distant record shot) © Stephen Burch |
Four-spotted Chaser
Large Red Damselfly
Banded Demoiselle 2m
Azure Damselfly 3 in cop. several ovipositing
Blue-tailed Damselfly 10+
Common Blue Damselfly 10+
Many 'Blue' damsels not identified
Nicola Devine
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| Four Spotted Chaser, showing some characteristics of the praenubila form © Nicola Devine |
Broad-bodied Chaser 3m 1f.
Mating seen and female ovipositing in shallow pools (trampled by cattle) where brook is overspilling into the meadow.
Steve Holliday
Dry Sandford Pit:-
4 Large Red Damsels
8+ Southern Damsels
3 Azure Damsels
2 Blue Tailed Damsels
1 Broad Bodied Chaser
6+ Keeled Skimmer
Cothill/Parsonage Moor:-
8+ Large Red Damsels
15+Small Red Damsels
7 Azure Damsels
1 Hairy Dragonfly
1 Emperor
6 Four-Spotted Chaser
2 Black Tailed Skimmer
8+ Keeled Skimmer
Wayne Bull
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| Small Red Damselfly (m) © Wayne Bull |
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| Small Red Damselflies in cop. (m) © Wayne Bull |
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| Small Red Damselfly (f) © Wayne Bull |
Many blue damselflies,
4 Black-tailed skimmers
4 Emperor dragonflies
James Wainscoat
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| Black-tailed Skimmer © James Wainscoat |
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| Emperor ovipositing © James Wainscoat |
3 Small Red-eyed Damselfly
Alan Dawson
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| Small Red-eyed Damselfly © Alan Dawson |
Small Red-eyed Damselfly 3-4. First of year
Geoff Wyatt
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| Small Red-eyed Damselfly © Geoff Wyatt |
Four-spotted Chaser
Broad-bodied Chaser
Black-tailed Skimmer
Hairy Dragonfly
Brown Hawker - 2
Emperor
Downy Emerald - 3 along bridleway ditch between Roman Road and junction of tracks by feeders. 4th in ditch along bridleway nearer Noke track junction
Ruddy Darter 3-4
Banded Demoiselle
Beautiful Demoiselle - 2 males - long bridleway nearer Noke track junction.
Large Red Damsel
Azure Damsel
Common Blue Damsel
Large Red-eyed Damsel
Geoff Wyatt
Large red damselfly 2m
White-legged damselfly 12+ includes 3 pair in tandem/wheel
Azure damselfly 30 including several in tandem, some ovipositing
Common blue damselfly 10+
Azure/Common estimate at 200+
Blue-tailed damselfly 10
Red-eyed damselfly 8m
Emperor 4m 1 f/imm
Four-spotted chaser 2
Black-tailed skimmer 2m
[in iRecord]
Steve Holliday
Black-tailed Skimmer: huge numbers over the water, as far as I could see, probably 100+
Stephen Burch
Dry Sandford Pit
55 Southern Damselfly
19 Keeled Skimmer
10 Black-tailed Skimmer
1 Broad Bodied Chaser
Large Red Damselfly and Azure Damselfly - large numbers
Parsonage Moor
260 Southern Damselfly
55 Keeled Skimmer
2 Blue tailed Damselfly
1 Emperor
18 Black-tailed Skimmer
2 Broad Bodied Chaser
Common Darter - a few
Large Red Damselfly and Azure Damselfly - large numbers
Peter Philp
1 Emerald Damsel (Orchard Lake)
Common Blue/Azure Damsels
15+ Blue Tailed Damsels
15+ Red Eyed Damsels
1 Hairy Dragonfly (Orchard Lake)
2 Emperor Dragonflies
1 Brown Hawker
1 Downy Emerald (Thrupp Lake)
8+ Four Spotted Chaser
10+ Black Tailed Skimmer
2 Common Darter (Tenerals)
Wayne Bull
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| Blue tailed damsel rufescens obsoleta © Wayne Bull |
Southern Damselfly : 6m, 3f
Large Red Damselfly : 3m
Keeled Skimmer : 5m
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| Keeled Skimmer ♂© David Hastings |
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| Southern Damselflies in cop © David Hastings |
Scarce Chaser 2m still: From approx 9am it was favouring the last fisherman's bay along the track, a few metres before a gate into the next field. At around 11:30, a second Scarce Chaser turned up and they flew off high together in the same fashion as yesterday.
Also present were
White-legged damselfly
Emperor
Brown Hawker
Red-eyed damselfly
Four-spotted chaser
Lots of banded demoiselles and blue damsels
Steve & Pete Roby
Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly: 2m+ in southern corner, 1 on northern edge.
Common Blue/Azure Damselfly
Emperor 1m, 1f ovipositing
Broad-bodied Chaser 3-4m, 1-2f ovipositing
Black-tailed Skimmer 1m
Stephen Burch, Alan Dawson
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| Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly © Stephen Burch |
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| Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly © Stephen Burch |
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| Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly © Alan Dawson |
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| Broad-bodied Chaser © Stephen Burch |
Beautiful Demoiselle (f)
Banded Demoiselle 2 1m 1f
Broad bodied Chaser 1f
Large Red Damselfly 2
Azures, plenty, many in cop. or ovipositing
Common Blue Damselfly approx 20
Blue-tailed Damselfly approx 20
Nicola Devine
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| Banded Demoiselle © Nicole Devine |
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| Beautiful Demoiselle © Nicole Devine |
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| Broad bodied Chaser © Nicole Devine |
Scarce Chaser 2m! Clashed violently late morning and soared together high vertically in the air whilst doing battle until they were lost from sight. Neither was seen again in the next half an hour.
White-legged Damselfly - several
Clubtail - mature male briefly
Also
Lots of Banded Demoiselles
A few Red-eyed Damselflies
1 Four-spotted Chaser
1 Emperor
Adam Hartley, Wayne Bull, Conor Mackenzie, Ian Lewington et al
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| Scarce Chaser © Adam Hartley |
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| This appears to be the second Scarce Chaser - it lacks the gap in the trailing edge of the left forewing. © Conor Mackenzie |
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| Clubtail © Conor Mackenzie |
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| White-legged Damselfly (female) © Adam Hartley |
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| Teneral Common Darter © Alan Dawson |
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| Female Black-tailed Skimmer © Alan Dawson |
Scarce Chaser - still present between about 11:40 and 11:50 at exactly the same location - SU 58990 92622.
Interacting with another darker dragonfly of about the same size. Just possibly a female? In support of this possibility, there are clear dark markings on the abdomen which are caused by copulation. These markings may be more pronounced in the photos taken today than in John's photos from yesterday.
Also reported by Alan Dawson 15:15 - about 50m further along the path
Seen again from 17:00 by Geoff Wyatt.
Thanks v much to John Bloomfield for letting us know so quickly about his great find!
Also in the area:
Banded Demoiselle
Emperor
White-legged Damselfly 1 - on riverside path closer to hotel
Stephen Burch
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| Scarce Chaser © Stephen Burch |
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| Scarce Chaser © Stephen Burch |
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| Scarce Chaser © Alan Dawson |
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| Scarce Chaser © Alan Dawson |
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| Scarce Chaser © Alan Dawson |
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| Scarce Chaser © Geoff Wyatt |
Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly: c.10. 5m and 5f including a pair in tandem and 2 females ovipositing, one of which was caught and eaten by a water boatman.
Blue-tailed Damselfly: c.10
Broad-bodied Chaser: 5 including 1f ovipositing.
Black-tailed Skimmer: 3 including 1f oviposting.
Emperor: 2 including 1f ovipositing.
Common Darter: 5
Azure and Common Blue: several
Small wildlife pond is publicly accessible at SU 50875 91109, via Dudcote Field with parking around Brunswick Gardens.
Ian Lewington
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| Wildlife pond is shown in blue. The SBTD were along the edge shown in red. Also a few on the other larger pond at the location marked by the red dot. © Ian Lewington |
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| Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies © Ian Lewington |
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| Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (male) © Ian Lewington |
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| Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (female) © Ian Lewington |
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