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2012 Dragonfly and Damselfly Records for Oxfordshire

All entries will be acknowledged. Please send any interesting sightings to me at stephen_burchemail at yahoo.co.uk (change "at" for "@"), and I will endeavour to enter below as soon as possible. Minimum required details are species, site and observer. If the species is localised, scarce or rare in Oxforshire, if possible please provide some details to confirm the identification (such as a photo, previous experience of the species etc).

For those with websites, I will add a link if requested.

If you'd like to send a photo to illustrate your sighting on this page, I'd be happy to add it below.

It would be most convenient if you could re-size any photographs to a horizontal resolution of 640 pixels, to match the others on this page.

See also my site guide to the dragonflies and damselflies of Oxfordshire, and also an illustrated list of all the dragonflies and damselflies recorded in Oxfordshire, with comments on abundance and distribution.

To see the news for 2011 click here and for 2010, click here.

Date	Species	Site and details	Observer
29 September	Migrant Hawker (4+), late Brown Hawker (1), Common Darters.	Shellingford Pit	Stephen Burch
29 September	Migrant Hawker (5+), numerous Ruddy and Common Darters.	Otmoor	Stephen Burch
22 September	Common Blue Damsel (1), Southern Hawker (1), Migrant Hawker (2+), Common Darter - many tandem pairs ovipositing.	Shellingford Pit	Stephen Burch
22 September	The terneral (immature) RED VEINED DARTER was re-located today.	Radley Gravel Pits	Jason Gosling via Oxon Bird Log
Migrant Hawker (c) Stephen Burch
15 September	Common Blue Damsel, Blue tailed Damsel, Emerald Damselflies (3+), inc one mating pair, Migrant Hawker 10+, Common Darter (but no RVDs that I could find!).	Shellingford Pit	Stephen Burch
Record shot of the Red veined Darter at Radley GP (c) Wayne Bull
13 September	RED VEINED DARTER (terneral) - 4th County record! Common blue damsels, Red eyed damsels, 4+ Southern Hawker, 1 Brown hawker, 10+ Migrant Hawker, Common and Ruddy Darters.	Radley Gravel Pits	Wayne Bull
9 September	Migrant Hawker (1), Southern Hawkers (2), and  Common Darter (c. 12)	Dry Sandford Pit	David Hastings
9 September	Common Blue Damselfly (2), Migrant Hawker (6), Brown Hawkers (2), Southern Hawkers (2) and around 20 Common Darters	Farmoor/Pinkhill	David Hastings
9 September	1 Banded Demoiselle male (late record), 10+ Common Blue Damsel, 2 Blue-tailed Damsel, 3 Emerald Damselflies (first site record, I believe), 10+ Common Darter, 10+ Ruddy Darter, 10+  Migrant - mating pairs, 3 Brown Hawker - 1 ovipos.	Shellingford Pit	Ian Waller
8 September	2 Migrant Hawker, 1 Brown Hawker, 5 Common Darter	Hartslock	Ian Waller
8 September	10+ Common Blue Damselfly, 2 Blue-tail - mating, 25 Migrant Hawker - at least 4 in wheel, 3 Brown Hawker, 25+ Common Darter, 5 + Ruddy Darter.	Shellingford Pit	Ian Waller
Migrant Hawker (c) David Hastings
8 September	Emerald Damselfly (2), Common Blue Damselfly (2),  Southern Hawkers (10+), Migrant Hawkers (10+), Brown Hawker(1),  and large numbers of Ruddy and Common Darters.	Otmoor	David Hastings
w/b 3 September	Migrant Hawker (2), Common Darter (1)	Milton Park - in the fine weather	Stephen Burch
19 August	Emerald Damselfly (16), Common Blue Damselfly (1), Brown Hawker (6), Southern Hawker (5) and Ruddy Darter (25+)	Otmoor	David Hastings
18 August	Many Common Blue Damselflies, Red-eyed Damselflies a and a few Blue-tailed Damselflies on Thrupp Lake and Bullfield Lake. There were  11 Brown Hawkers, 6 Southern Hawkers and 13 Common Darters.	Radley Lakes	David Hastings
12 August	At least 4-5 Keeled Skimmers (all males) 1 Hawker possibly Migrant? unfortunately it never settled. 2+ Brown Hawkers	Parsonage Moor	Badger
Black-tailed Skimmer (c) Stephen Burch
11 August	Small red eyed Damselfly (3m & 1f, inc one pair in cop.), Red eyed Damsel, Common Blue Damsel (many), Blue-tailed Damsel, Emperor (2m, 2f ovipositing), Brown Hawker (1m, 1f ovipositing), Black-tailed Skimmer, Common Darter	Shellingford Pit	Stephen Burch
11 August	Common Blue Damsel, Keeled Skimmer (1m), Common Darter (many)	Dry Sandford Pit	Stephen Burch
Over mature female Keeled Skimmer (c) Badger Broad bodied Chaser (c) Ewan Urquhart
10-11 August	Keeled Skimmer (1m & 1f), Broad-bodied Chaser, Brown Hawker	Parsonage Moor	Badger
10-11 August	1 Southern Hawker, 2 Brown Hawkers and an Emperor.	Radley Lakes	Badger
10 August	16+ Common Darters, 4 Southern Hawkers, 6 Brown Hawkers and 8+ Migrant Hawkers	Whitecross Green Wood	David Hastings
10 August	2 Emerald Damselflies, 1 Blue-tailed Damselfly, 2 Southern Hawkers, 5 Brown Hawkers and huge numbers of Common/Ruddy Darters.	Otmoor	David Hastings
8 August	Lots of Common Blue and Red-eyed Damselfly, also Blue-tailed Damselfly (5), Brown Hawker (4), Southern Hawker (1) and Common Darter (10)	Radley Lakes	David Hastings
Keeled Skimmer (c) David Hastings
6 August	Blue-tailed Damselfly (1), Common Darter (6), Ruddy Darter (1), Emperor (1), Keeled Skimmer (1).	Parsonage Moor	David Hastings
6 August	Common Darter (11), Keeled Skimmer (5), Small Red Damselfly (5), Brown Hawker (1).	Cothill Fen	David Hastings
6 August	Common Blue Damselfly (2), Common Darter (1), Keeled Skimmer (4), Brown Hawker (1).	Dry Sandford Pit	David Hastings
Ruddy Darter obelisking (c) David Hastings
3 August	11 Blue-tailed Damselflies (including two pairs in cop), five Common Blue Damselflies, five  Emerald Damselflies, 13 Brown Hawkers, dozens of Darters (mostly Ruddy), six immature Migrant Hawkers and a Black-tailed Skimmer.	Otmoor	David Hastings
Emperor (c) Stephen Burch
28 July	Common Blue Damselfly (many), Blue-tailed Damselfly, Emperor (1-2), Common Darters.	Shellingford Pit	Stephen Burch
Keeled Skimmer (c) Stephen Burch
28 July	2-3 Small red Damselflies, Common Blue Damselflies, c. 10 Keeled Skimmer, Common Darter.	Cothill Fen	Stephen Burch
26 July	3 Brown Hawkers.	Bernwood Forest	David Hastings
Mature male Emerald Damselfly © David Hastings
26 July	One Black-tailed Skimmer, at least ten Emerald Damselflies (including two pairs in tandem), twenty or more Ruddy Darters and eight Brown Hawkers.	Otmoor	David Hastings
Southern Hawker (c) 'Badger'
21 July	Emperor Dragonfly, Brown Hawker, Southern Hawker.	Bernwood Forest	'Badger' per Oxon Bird Log
21 July	One Red-eyed Damsel, several Blue-tailed Damsels, numerous Common Blue Damsels. Four-spotted Chasers, Black-tailed Skimmers, Emperor (3+), Brown Hawker (2+)	Shellingford Pit	Stephen Burch
17 July	Dozens of Common Blue Damsels in Burgess Field, 1m Black-tailed Skimmer by the floods.	Port Meadow	Adam Hartley
17 July	Several Common Blue & Blue-tailed Damsels, 1m Emperor, 2 Southern Hawker	Trap Grounds	Adam Hartley
15 July	Beautiful Demoiselle (1), Common Blue Damselfly (1), teneral Ruddy Darters (6+), Brown Hawker (2) and a female Broad-bodied Chaser.	Whitecross Green Wood	David Hastings
15 July	Brown Hawker, Emperor (2)	Bernwood Forest	Stephen Burch
14 July	Small Red-eyed Damselfly (1)	Didcot	Roger Wyatt
Brown Hawker and Emerald Damselfly © Adam Hartley
12 July	Several Brown Hawkers, many Common and Ruddy Darters, Four Spotted Chaser and one or two Black-tailed Skimmers. Also Emerald Damselfly.	Otmoor	Adam Hartley (from his blog).
Four Spotted Chaser © Stephen Burch
30 June	Emperor (2), Four Spotted Chaser (2), Black-tailed Skimmer (c. 10), terneral Common Darters and many Common Blue Damsels.	Shellingford Pit	Stephen Burch
Female Common Blue Damselfly © Adam Hartley
28th June	1m Emperor Dragonfly, ~6 Common Blue Damselflies	Trap Grounds	Adam Hartley
28th June	1m Black-tailed Skimmer, 12+ Common Blue Damselflies	Port Meadow	Adam Hartley
Female Beautiful Demoiselle © Adam Hartley
25 June	1f Beautiful Demoiselle, 6+ Large Red Damselflies, 6+ Azure Damselflies	Bernwood Forest	Adam Hartley
Male Beautiful Demoiselle © David Hastings
24 June	4 Beautiful Demoiselles	Bernwood Forest	David Hastings
24 June	About 10 teneral Emerald Damselflies and 3 teneral Ruddy Darters.	Otmoor	David Hastings
23 or 24 June	Beautiful Demoiselle (probably the first record for this site).	Otmoor (Roman Road)	Paul Greenaway
Terneral Keeled Skimmer © Wayne Bull
20 June	4 Southern Damselflies, 10 Azure Damsels, 5 Large Red Damsels, 10+ Small Red damselflies, 1 Blue tailed damsel, 12+ Keeled Skimmer, 1 Broad bodied Chaser, 3 Four spotted Chaser.	Cothill/Parsonage Moor	Wayne Bull
20 June	8+ Southern Damselflies, 1 Blue tailed Damsel, 1 Large red Damsel	Dry Sandford Pit	Wayne Bull
18 June	A few Blue tailed and Azure damsels, 20+ Red eyed Damsels, 100's of Common blue Damsels, 1 Emerald Damselfly (First record for Radley?). 1 Broad bodied Chaser, 1 Four spotted Chaser and 2 Common Darter! Numbers are so low this year!	Radley Gravel Pits	Wayne Bull
18 June	1m Emperor Dragonfly, 10+ Common Blue Damselflies	Trap Grounds	Adam Hartley
Emerald Damselfly © David Hastings
17 June	Common Blue Damselflies, two Blue-tailed Damselflies, about ten Red-eyed Damselflies, two Large Red Damselflies, two teneral Emerald Damselflies,  forty+ Four-spotted Chasers (some pairs were in mating wheels and some females were ovipositing), one teneral Black-tailed Skimmer and two Hairy Dragonflies.	Otmoor	David Hastings
16 June	Several male Common Blue Damselflies and one Red-eyed Damselfly	Farmoor Reservoir	David Hastings
Large Red Damselfly © Adam Hartley
14 June	Mating pair of Large Red Damselflies	Jericho area of Oxford	Adam Hartley
14 June	1f Black-tailed Skimmer, dozens of Common Blue Damselflies, 3 Blue-tailed Damselflies	Whitecross Green Wood	Adam Hartley
Four spotted Chaser © Wayne Bull
10 June	1 Large Red Damsel, 1 Azure Damsel, 5 Common Blue Damsels, 6 Blue tailed Damsels. Also 2 Broad bodied Chaser and 10+ Four spotted Chasers inc 1 "Praenubila"	Whitecross Green Wood BBOWT reserve	Wayne Bull
Downy Emerald at Thrupp Lake © Wayne Bull
28 May	1 Banded Demoiselle, hundreds of teneral and adult Common Blue Damsels, lots of teneral and adult Red eyed Damsels, 15+ Four spotted chaser, 2 Teneral Black Tailed Skimmer. 2-3 Hairy Dragonflies in exactly the same area as the last 2 years (Lake M) on south east side flying low amongst the reeds. 1 Downy Emerald seen on the southern end of Thrupp Lake bordering Bullfield Lake.	Radley Lakes	Wayne Bull
27 May	About 6 Large Red Damselflies	Dry Sandford Pit	David Hastings
Blue-tailed Damselfly - an immature female of the form "rufescens". © David Hastings
27 May	Lots of Common Blue and Azure Damselflies, four Blue-tailed Damselflies, two Red-eyed Damselflies and possibly two Downy Emeralds. The Emeralds were over Bullfield Lake	Radley Lakes	David Hastings
26 May	Common Clubtail	Aston Upthorpe Downs	David Hastings
Downy Emerald at Thrupp Lake © Martin Green
27 May	Common Blue and Azure Damselflies. At least two Downy Emeralds flying over the water near the boardwalk.	Thrupp Lake, Radley GP	Martin Green
Azure Damselfly on Otmoor © Mike Flemming
Hairy Dragonfly © Wayne Bull
22 May	Large Red Damsels, 3 Blue tailed Damsels, lots of Azure Damsels, 2 Four spotted Chasers and 4 Hairy Dragonflies!	Otmoor	Wayne Bull
Terneral Red eyed Damselfly © Wayne Bull
17 May	Only 10+ Common Blue and 2 Red Eyed Damsels seen!	Radley Gravel Pits	Wayne Bull
12 May	Six teneral Large Red Damselflies and one teneral Common Blue Damselfly	Otmoor	David Hastings
12 May	One male Banded Demoiselle and a Club-Tailed Dragonfly	River Thames, just downstream from Shillingford Bridge	Geoff Wyatt
6 May	Six teneral Large Red Damselflies and one teneral Common Blue Damselfly	Farmoor (Pinkhill)	David Hastings
April 2012	No records received! Amazing contrast from April 2011 when about 11 species had been recorded by 30 April.