Stephen Burch's Birding & Dragonfly Website

Home | Trip Reports | Gallery | UK index | Oxon pics | UK pics | Dragonflies | Other Nature | Links

The Oxfordshire Dragonfly and Damselfly list

Important note added 4.2.10: The NBN Gateway [5] is a veritable treasure trove of information especially for the rarer species, now that I have applied for and been granted access to the more recent BDS database. I will now gradually update the information given below, to take account of this information.

For a site guide to the dragonflies and damselflies of Oxfordshire, click here.

	Species	Distribution	Comments	Photograph*
1	Beautiful Demoiselle	Localised.	Brownett mentions the River Swere in north Oxfordshire as a stronghold to at least the early 1990's [1]. More recently, there is a cluster of records from the extreme north of the County, with a scattering from various sites in the south, including Letcombe Brook in East Hanney (2004), the rivers Ock and Windrush, as well as the Thames at Tadpole Bridge [5]. There are 2010 records from Waterperry Wood and Stanton St John, both in the north of the County. There is the possibility of confusion with the much more widespread Banded Demoiselle.
2	Banded Demoiselle	Widespread	A common and widespread species, especially along the river Thames.
3	Emerald Damselfly	Localised	Otmoor is the premier site for this species in the County. There is a scattering of odd records from a few other sites, such as Dry Sandford Pit [5].
4	White-legged Damselfly	Localised	Reasonably common in suitable habitat, i.e. well vegetated slow moving rivers such as the Thames.
5	Large Red Damselfly	Localised	Occurs at various sites, including Otmoor and Dry Sandford Pit.
6	Blue-tailed Damselfly	Abundant	One of the commonest damselflies in the County.
7	Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly	Rare/extinct?	Brownett mentions records from the Lower Windrush Valley Gravel Pits in the early 1990's when they were being actively dug [1]. There are more recent records from the same area, up to 2000 [5] by J M Campbell. Does this species still survive in Oxfordshire? This is at least possible given continuing gravel extraction in the County, but access to such areas is very difficult.	Not available
8	Southern Damselfly	Very localised	Reasonably numerous at Dry Sandford Pit, with a recent reported spread to the nearby BBOWT reserve of Parsonage Moor [2]. This is a very isolated population, and I have heard a suggestion they might have been introduced here several years ago.
9	Azure Damselfly	Widespread	A numerous species, but needs careful examination to separate from the commoner Common Blue.
10	Variable Damselfly	Very localised	Apparently confined to the Cothill/Parsonage Moor area, where it was seen in 2010 and in previous recent years [7].
11	Common Blue Damselfly	Abundant	Probably the commonest damselfly in Oxfordshire.
12	Red-eyed Damselfly	Widespread	Occurs quite widely at many sites.
13	Small Red-eyed Damselfly	Very localised	Shellingford Pit has held varying numbers since 2006. 2010 was a good year for this species with well over 10 at this site, and a new site record from Radley Lakes [7]. It has also been recorded from Didcot Power Station/Appleford Pit [5]. Probably occurs elsewhere.
14	Small Red Damselfly	Very localised	Regular records from the acidic habitats in the Cothill NNR/Parsonage Moor area from 1910 to 2010! [5].
15	Club-tailed Dragonfly	Localised	An elusive species localised to suitable habitat such as the Thames, where it is reputed to occur along its full length in the County. Best known sites are the railway bridge south of Goring and Cholsey Marsh, though even these are not guaranteed to produce sightings. The Thames at Little Whittenham Woods is also a good site, and produced a remarkable 14 on 9 May 2009 [3].
16	Hairy Dragonfly	Very localised	Occurs early in the season on Otmoor in small numbers, from where records date back to 1998 [5]. Also found in 2010 at Radley Lakes by Wayne Bull. No recent records from anywhere else.
17	Common Hawker	Very rare	Last confirmed record given by Brownett [1] was in 1983. There are just a handful of records since 2000 in the NBN database [5], from sites including Lashford Lane Fen, Parsonage Moor and Iffley Meadows. With no records since 2004, this must be one of the rarest dragonflies in Oxforshire. There is potential for confusion with other hawkers (Migrant and Southern).
18	Southern Hawker	Widespread	One of the easiest hawkers to find in Oxfordshire. Visits gardens regularly.
19	Brown Hawker	Widespread	A commonly encountered hawker, but slightly less so than Southern.
20	Migrant Hawker	Widespread	Can be numerous in late, good summers, of which there have been none recently. Numbers certainly well down in 2009 at Shellingford.
21	Emperor	Widespread	Again a widespread species in Oxfordshire, occurring at plenty of sites.
22	Lesser Emperor	Rare	Records from Appleford Pit in 2006 (2), Radley Lakes in 2006 & 2007 and at Shellingford Pit in 2008. Quite remarkably this last record was one of only 8 in the entire country for 2008 [6]! After a few blank years, the next record was on 31 July 2011 at Pit 60, Standlake Gravel Pits.
23	Downy Emerald	Localised	Downy Emeralds favour ponds or small lakes with surrounding trees. Brownett mentions this is a scarce species with a northerly bias in the county. Records since 2000 are from a scattering of sites, mainly in the north of the county such as Rousham Ponds, Ditchley Park and Standford St Martin [5]. However, there are a few records from sites in the south, including the lake at Buckland House (no public access) and the ponds at Little Whittenham Wood (but not since 2001) [5]. In May 2010, there were records of males on Otmoor, one of which was well photographed. As a result, other records for that site emerged for 2002, 2003 and 2004 [7]. In 2010 it was also found by Wayne Bull at a new site - Radley Lakes.
24	Broad-bodied Chaser	Reasonably widespread	Can be found at a number of sites, including Otmoor and Shellingford Pit in good years.
25	Scarce Chaser	?	This species is on the official Oxfordshire list from the Dragonfly Recording Network (DRN) [5], apparently on the strength of a single unconfirmed record from Cassington Gravel Pits in 1986 by an un-named observer. Not mentioned in [1] and I doubt this record would have been accepted if it were a bird species!
26	Four-spotted Chaser	Widespread & numerous	Can be very abundant at some sites, e.g. Otmoor.
27	Black-tailed Skimmer	Widespread	Likes muddy edges of ponds etc. Not difficult to find in the County, e.g. Otmoor, Pinkhill and Shellingford.
28	Keeled Skimmer	Very localised	This is an acid water species and probably a recent colonist. It now occurs at Dry Sandford Pit (since 2006) and Parsonage Moor/Cothill NNR.
29	Black Darter	Extinct?	This is also usually an acid species, but the most recent record is from as long ago as 1986 at Hill End Camp. There are also a few even older records from Cothill, which must be the only likely location for this species in the County now. Worth a close look in August?
30	Ruddy Darter	Quite widespread	A reasonably common species in Oxfordshire. I have even seen it in some surprising habitats such as the stagnant canal near Wantage.
31	Yellow-winged Darter	Vagrant	Brownett mentions 4 records, the most recent being from Clattercote Reservoir in 1995, which coincided with an unprecedented influx of this species into Britain. More recently, there was a record by G Hopwood at Aston Rowant on 27 August 2006 [4],[5] which again coincided with an influx of this species.	Not available
32	Red-veined Darter	Vagrant	Brownett mentions just 1 record from 1976. There are two more recent records, from Otmoor in June 2006 and Radley Lakes in June 2007 [5]. This species is increasing in Britain and there must be good prospects for more records shortly.
33	Common Darter	Widespread & abundant	Surely the County's most numerous dragonfly, later in the season!