Farmoor 26th August

Hardly anything about along the river at Farmoor this afternoon. All I could find were a Migrant Hawker, a Southern Hawker and a female Western Willow Spreadwing.

David Hastings

Western Willow Spreadwing ♀ © David Hastings

Otmoor, 25 August

A very warm and very dry Otmoor today. Many ditches and the small pond on the Seasonal Trail just mud now, which possibly explains the complete lack of damselflies.

All the hawkers were in flight high up and not perching.

Southern Migrant Hawker, 1 - junction of bridleway/track to first screen
Migrant Hawker, c17
Brown Hawker, 1
Common & Ruddy Darter, 40+

Phil Cruse

Ruddy Darter obelisking in the heat  © Phil Cruse

Tar Lakes, 25 August PM

Most activity and species in the conservation area, C (SP385070 ), where viewing conditions are difficult due to the sun direction.

Common Blue Damselflies C
Red-eyed Damselfly C
Small Red-eyed Damselfly C
1m Emperor C 
1m Lesser Emperor C
5+ Migrant Hawker first and second lakes
10+ Common Darter - all lakes, especially second.

Stephen Burch

John Allen Pit, Dorchester, 22nd August.

Lesser Emperor, 3

A female ovipositing whist clasped by a male, a second male came in and tussled with them briefly. They seem to be ranging over the whole lake and are difficult to track down.

Geoff Wyatt

Grove Meadows Stormwater Pond, 22 August

1 Common Blue Damselfly
10-20 Small Red-eyed Damselfly
10+ Willow Emerald Damselfly
1 Emperor
1 Migrant Hawker
3+ Common Darter - where are they all? Normally many more at this site at this time of year

Stephen Burch

Common Darter [focus stacked] © Stephen Burch

Willow Emerald Damselfly [focus stacked] © Stephen Burch

Willow Emerald Damselfly in flight © Stephen Burch

Otmoor, 17 August

On track to first screen:

1m Southern Migrant Hawker

Christopher Bill per iRecord

Whitecross Green Wood, 17 August

Common and Ruddy Darter Dragonfly, 20+, several ovipositing
Migrant Hawker Dragonfly, c.20 - over the rides and car park
Common Blue Damselfly, several
Willow Emerald Damselfly, 1

Phil Cruse

Common Darters in tandem © Phil Cruse

Wroxton College Lakes, 11 August

 Belated report:

11 August 2025 1320 – 1500 sunny intervals

Willow Emerald 4 (pair in tandem plus male, Lady lake and 1 by Main Lake)
Common Blue Damselfly 20+ including several pairs in tandem, females ovipositing
Blue Damselfly sp 200+ over Main Lake
Blue-tailed Damselfly 1m (Lady Lake)
Red-eyed Damselfly 3 m (2 Lady Lake 1 Main Lake)
Small Red-eyed Damselfly 2m on algal mats, Main Lake.
Migrant Hawker 3m lady lake, 2m Main Lake, 2m Overspill channel
Brown Hawker 1 Lady Lake.
Ruddy Darter 10 (3m pair it tandem, fem ovipositing Lady Lake, 4m Main Lake)
Common Darter 1 Lady Lake.

Steve Holliday

Radley Lakes 15th August

Common Blue Damselfly 20+
Blue-tailed Damselfly 1
Red-eyed Damselfly 4
Brown Hawker 1
Southern Hawker 2
Migrant Hawker 3
Ruddy Darter 11

David Hastings

Farmoor 15th August

Blue-tailed Damselfly 1
Brown Hawker 1
Migrant Hawker 11
Common Darter 12 

David Hastings

Migrant Hawker ♂ © David Hastings

Otmoor, 9th August

Belated report via iRecord:

Southern Migrant Hawker 2-5. Grid ref given as SP561132 (along path to first screen)

Jackie Newcombe

Faringdon Folly Park Pond, 13 August AM

A large number of anglers were present, substantially limiting access to the water's edge. Cooler and less sunny than yesterday!

Banded Demoiselle 1f
Blue-tailed Damselfly  5+ 
Small Red-eyed Damselfly 5+
Emperor 2m
Migrant Hawker 2+
Common Darter 5+

Stephen Burch

Common Darter © Stephen Burch

Blue-tailed Damselfly [focus stacked] © Stephen Burch

Tar Lakes, 12 August PM

Along the dog walkers path in high temperatures. Activity seemed to diminish the hotter it got.

Common Blue Damselflies - several all lakes (100s in total?)
Red-eyed Damselfly - a few mainly in reserve area in NE corner
Small Red-eyed Damselfly - 2+ reserve area in NE corner
Emperor - 1 NW corner of first lake
Lesser Emperor - 1 along SW shore of first lake but only very briefly. Did not re-appear. 😞
Black-tailed Skimmer - 1 in E corner of first lake
Ruddy Darter - 1
Common Darter - a few here and there

Stephen Burch

Ruddy Darter [partially focus stacked] © Stephen Burch

Radley Lakes, 11 August

1 Willow Emerald (female Orchard Lake)
10+ Common Blue Damsels
4 Blue Tailed Damsels
10+ Red Eyed Damsels
8+ Small Red Eyed Damsels (Orchard Lake)
3 Migrant Hawkers
1 Emperor Dragonfly
1 Lesser Emperor (Thrupp Lake - railings on E side)
2 Brown Hawker
3 Black Tailed Skimmer
7 Common Darter
5 Ruddy Darter

Wayne Bull

 Willow Emerald Damselfly © Wayne Bull

Small Red Eyed Damselfly © Wayne Bull

Farmoor – Shrike Meadow hide, 10 August

Migrant Hawker – 3m

Tim & Ali Baker

Otmoor 10th August

Western Willow Spreadwing 2♂, 2♀
Migrant Hawker 1
Ruddy Darter 3
Common Darter 11

David Hastings

Western Willow Spreadwing ♂ © David Hastings

                                                Western Willow Spreadwing ♀ © David Hastings

Whitecross Green Wood 10th August

Blue-tailed Damselfly 2
Common Speadwing 20+
Southern Hawker 1
Brown Hawker 3
Migrant Hawker 21
Southern Migrant Hawker 1
Common Darter 20+
Ruddy Darter 1

David Hastings

Common Spreadwing ♂ © David Hastings

Harwell Campus, 9 August

 New landscaped pond at SU477873:

Common Blue Damselfly 10+
Small Red-eyed Damselfly 5+

Stephen Burch

Ardley Trow Pool, 8th August

Lesser Emperor - 1 male again in the same area hunting flies adjacent to the quarry lake.
Emperor - 2
Ruddy Darter - 2
Willow Emerald Damselfly - 1

Lesser Emperor 

Willow Emerald Damselfly 

John Allen Pit, Dorchester on Thames, 8 August

Lesser Emperor 3

A male and female in tandem briefly.
Later watching a male patroling that had a couple of interactions with a second male.
Ranging over the whole lake but returned to the North West corner several times.

Geoff Wyatt

Grove Meadows Stormwater Pond, 8 August

Azure Damselfly  5+
Blue-tailed Damselfly 2
Small Red-eyed Damselfly - 50+ (v. difficult to estimate numbers with any confidence)
Emperor 1-2
Migrant Hawker 2+
Common Darter 5+ (surprisingly few for this site)

Positively teeming with odonata compared with Farmoor!

Stephen Burch

Small Red-eyed Damselfly (low angle view, focus stacked) © Stephen Burch

Stadhampton Meadows - 6th Aug and previously

Generally sparse counts here so far this summer:

Numbers of Banded Demoiselle on all visits
1 Beautiful Demoiselle (female) today
A few Common Blue Damselfly today
3 or more Brown Hawker on recent visits, but none today
Just 1 Emperor Dragonfly so far
No sign of any Willow Emerald yet after my first site records in 2023

Beautiful Demoiselle (female)

Ardley Trow Pool, 6th August

Lesser Emperor - male hunting insects over the grassy area between the quarry lake and Trow Pool this evening. Presumably the same one as I saw there last week.

Southern Hawker - 2

Whitecross Green Wood, 6 August 11:00-15:30

Emerald Damselfly (a few at both ponds)
Brown Hawker - c. 5 along the rides and at both ponds
Southern Hawker - 2+
Migrant Hawker - c.10 along the rides
Southern Migrant Hawker - 2 still at the smaller pond SP602144
Common Darter
Ruddy Darter

Stephen Burch

Southern Migrant Hawker in flight © Stephen Burch

Southern Migrant Hawker settled © Stephen Burch

Southern Migrant Hawker settled close up © Stephen Burch

Farmoor, 6 August

Red-eyed Damselfly (1f)
Willow Emerald Damselfly (1)
Migrant Hawker (1)

Just 3 individual odonata in seemingly ideal conditions!

Brian Walker

Migrant Hawker © Brian Walker

Willow Emerald Damselfly (f)  © Brian Walker

Red-eyed Damselfly (f) © Brian Walker

Shillingford - 6th Aug

 

Mating Willow Emerald in difficult light conditions

6 Willow Emerald (incl 2 mating pairs) on the Earth Trust land at SU589930

A few Azure and Blue-tailed Damselflies

9 White-legged Damselfly along path out from S Bridge Hotel

White-legged Damselfly (male)

White-legged Damselfly (female)

4 Brown Hawker

Lots of Common Darter

Ruddy Darter (mating pair)

Ruddy Darters

Whitecross Green Wood - 5th Aug

 Very disappointing count in three hours from 9am this morning:

Migrant Hawker (immature male)

1 Migrant Hawker (imm male)

1 Brown Hawker (male)
No sign of any Southern Migrant Hawkers, after one male seen by me along top ride from entrance 28/7
Occasional Ruddy and Common Darters

3 Common Emerald damselflies
1 White-legged Damselfly

Common Emerald (male)

White-legged Damselfly (male)

Whitecross Green Wood , 2 August

Southern Migrant Hawker , 2 m
Southern Hawker , 1
Brown Hawker , 1m, 1f ovipositing
Emperor dragonfly, 1m, 1f ovipositing
Common and Ruddy Darter , 20+ (inc. some ovipositing)
Emerald Damselfly, 20+
White-legged Damselfly, 2

Phil Cruse

Southern Migrant Hawker © Phil Cruse

Southern Migrant Hawker © Phil Cruse

White-legged Damselfly © Phil Cruse

Bodicote Reservoir. 2 August

Common Blue Damsels
4 Azure Damsels
1 Southern Migrant Hawker
4 Emperor Dragonflies
1 Lesser Emperor (male) 
1 Brown Hawker
2 Black Tailed Skimmer
2 Ruddy Darter
2 Common Darter

Wayne Bull

Lesser Emperor © Wayne Bull

Blenheim, 2nd August

Lesser Emperor - 1 male
Emperor - 4
Migrant Hawker - 2
Brown Hawker - 6
Ruddy Darter - 1
Four-spotted Chaser - 1
Large numbers of Common Blue, Blue-tailed, and Red-eyed Damsels.

Gareth Casburn

Lesser Emperor © Gareth Casburn