A remarkable record of a Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly has belatedly come to light while I was looking through iRecord entries for VC22 (Berkshire) for last year. It was on 6 June 2024, from a location in Grove, near Wantage, given as SU398902.
[Note that Vice County 22 includes the large section of what has been Oxfordshire ever since the re-organisation of county boundaries in 1974 - everywhere to the right of the River Thames, looking downstream].
The photos (for one see below) appear to confirm the identity, and look as though they were taken in the observer's garden! Unfortunately there is no valid observer name nor contact details for this record.
If by any chance the observer reads this post, I'd be delighted to him from him/her!
Grove is some distance from Didcot, the only other known location for this rare species in southern Oxfordshire, and even further from the other sites in Banbury.
In Oxon, this species is currently usually found only at stormwater ponds, so it is possible there is a breeding colony nearby, yet to be discovered. Something to bear in mind in June this year!
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| Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly in Grove, 6 June 2024 |
