Summary of the 2022 season in Oxfordshire

With the 2023 season fast approaching, here is a summary of last years key sightings in the county:

In 2022, the unprecedented heat wave and drought caused a few sites, mainly stormwater ponds and some chalk streams, to dry up but most others retained at least some water and overall there did not appear to be a major impact on numbers or species diversity and activity was often high in the hot conditions. 

The season got off to a slightly earlier start than 2021, but by the end of April there had been just a few records of Large Red Damselfly. 

First Odonata sighting of 2022: Large Red Damselfly © Alan Dawson

There were only five records of Common Club-tail from the  eastern (VC23) bank of the River Thames, but this may have been due to lack of observer coverage as more came from the western (VC22) bank. The total number of records for Oxfordshire was ~24, between 5th May and the 15th June. This year, there were no sightings further upstream than Port Meadow (Oxford). 

Clubtail (c) Ian Lewington

Another early season speciality of national conservation concern, the Variable Damselfly, may be vanishing from the county as it was only recorded twice, from the Barton Fields/Radley Lakes area. The main site at Barton Fields has become overgrown and was largely inaccessible, so it is possible more remain here.  

Variable Damselfly © Brian Walker

There were however good numbers of Downy Emerald seen, including at two sites in the north of the county (Rousham Lakes and Barton Abbey Lake) where they were found to be thriving after a gap of almost 20 years in observer coverage. Wayne Bull found an amazing total of 10  in one visit to Rousham Lakes! 

Sightings of Scarce Chasers along the River Thames north of Shillingford was a major highlight for 2022. The male initially reported by John Bloomfield was only the third confirmed record in the county, and the first to remain for more than one day. The resulting influx of observers ("mini-twitch"), led to the discovery of a second male, with a possible female being seen as well, which was plausible given that the males showed evidence of copulation.

Mature male Scarce Chaser © John Bloomfield

Scarce Chaser © Stephen Burch

Following their discovery in 2020, Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies were again seen at the stormwater pond on Longford Park, Banbury. Last year, Ian Lewington discovered a new site many miles to the south in Didcot, at another stormwater pond. This year, he found this species at an additional, more accessible, stormwater pond very nearby.

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly (male) © Ian Lewington

Unfortunately, Southern Migrant Hawker may be disappearing from Otmoor following their discovery in 2020, with smaller numbers seen the following year. In 2022, only two records of mature adults were received, possibly due to the prevailing drought conditions. 

Southern Migrant Hawker © Jeremy Dexter

 The Cothill BBOWT transect surveys produced an amazing peak daily count of 425 Southern Damselflies at Parsonage Moor, compared with a previous maximum of 164 (last year). There were also good numbers of Keeled Skimmer seen. Clearly BBOWT’s careful on-going habitat management is producing ideal conditions at this reserve. 

Keeled Skimmer ♂ © David Hastings

Following the appearance of Keeled Skimmer at the Lye Valley LNR, Oxford in 2020, a new colony maybe becoming established with a peak count of 10 this year. Mid-summer was also notable for two highly probable sightings of Lesser Emperor at Radley Lakes. This species remains a very rare visitor to the county, despite good numbers elsewhere in the country. 

Small Red-eyed Damselfly continued its recent spread, with records from 17 sites all across the county. The highest total of around 70 was again found at a Grove stormwater pond. 

Small red-eyed Damselfly © Stephen Burch

A late-season highlight was the dramatic spread of Willow Emerald Damselfly, with sightings much earlier and later in the year than previously. The total number of sites occupied increased from 6 last year to ~26 this year, spread across the county from near Banbury to the north, to Faringdon in the far south-west. 

Willow Emerald Damselfly by the late Nicola Devine

The last record was of a Common Darter near Cholsey on 25 November. 

The last odonata record for 2022: Common Darter © Paul Chandler 

Over the year, 30 species were seen in Oxfordshire, including the very probable Lesser Emperor.  

2022 saw the publication in Issue 10 of the journal Fritillary of a detailed paper on the Dragonflies of Oxfordshire, authored by the VC23 recorder. This can be downloaded from https://anhso.org.uk/special-interest-groups/fritillary/fritillary-10/.