Thrupp Lake, Radley Lakes, 29 April

1 Red-eyed Damselfly 
5 Common Blue Damselflies

Brian Walker

Red-eyed Damselfly © Brian Walker

John Allen Pit and River Thames 27 and 29 April

John Allen Pit, Dorchester, 27/4

Hairy Dragonfly 3.
Large Red Damselfly 6.
Common Blue Damselfly c30.

River Thames, Church Farm/Day's Lock, 29/4

Club-tailed Dragonfly 1.
Banded Demoiselle 6.

Geoff Wyatt

Banded Demoiselle © Geoff Wyatt

Central Oxford 26th April

One immature Large Red Damselfly in a garden in the Walton Manor area of Oxford.

Adam Hartley 

Record shot photo taken with iPhone

 

Standlake Common, 24th April

In vegetation near the electricity sub-station:

Common Blue Damselfly : 1 (immature male)
Large Red Damselfly : 1 (immature male)

David Hastings

Large Red Damselfly © David Hastings

Broughton (Oxon), 24 April

In a garden SP423384:

1 Large Red Damselfly

Paul Wyeth

Large Red Damselfly basking on Dwarf Buddleia © Paul Wyeth

Standlake Common, 23 April

 At gate to Langley Lane Pit 60 hide SP391018:

1 Common Blue Damselfly (teneral)

Stephen Burch

Common Blue Damselfly [focus stacked] © Stephen Burch

John Allen Pit, Dorchester 20 April

Common Blue Damsel: Several tenerals, c12 in the long grass west of the the John Allen Pit.

Geoff Wyatt

Common Blue Damselfly © Geoff Wyatt

Streatley, 20 April

1 Large Red Damselfly

Elizabeth Lawrance, per iRecord

Otmoor, 16 April

Along track to second screen:

1 Hairy Dragonfly

Paul Wyeth

First Oxon record to my knowledge! Steve

Hairy Dragonfly © Paul Wyeth

Talk given at the British Dragonfly Society's on-line Spring Meeting March 2026

Despite seemingly ideal conditions last year, several recorders reported lower than expected levels of dragonfly activity. 

I've previously posted here the results of analysis of systematic records from  Marsh Wood Pond near Wallingford (made by Julian Edwards) and also daily exuviae counts made by Deborah Dunn at her small garden pond.  Since then I've also looked at Julian's records from nearby Cholsey Marsh as well as the transect surveys organised BBOWT at their two special Cothill reserves, Dry Sandford Pit and Parsonage Moor.

At the recent BDS on-line Spring meeting, I gave a talk looking these records and examining what they showed for numbers of dragonflies in 2025 compared with earlier years. It is notable that three of four sites showed declines in 2025 relative to 2024, with two sites down to 40% of their 2024 values.

If you would like more information, you can download a pdf of my presentation. There are even videos of the talks from this meeting on the BDS YouTube Channel!