31st Mar 2024

Quite a lot of visitors and news this week and I think I've got everything, but I apologise if I've missed anything. 

On Tuesday Bruce Hendrie saw our first Shoveler of the year, with five birds present (4 drakes). Ian also saw a Little Ringed Plover, 2 White Wagtails and a Willow Warbler.

The next morning there were 2 Shoveler and a Little Ringed Plover still and 1 Swallow and 7 Sand Martin later in the day.

John recorded our first (?) Blackcap of the year as well as Willow Warbler and c.9 Chiffchaffs, and later in the day Ian had a Swallow and 3 sand Martin and Sandra had a Little Ringed Plover. 

On Saturday John and I had our first Heron of the year, believe it or not! and today Clive had 12 Swallow, 6 Sand Martin, Little Ringed Plover and a Willow Warbler.

24th Mar 2024: early spring arrivals

There was a nice flurry of early spring migrant arrivals this week. 

Ian Rowe found our first Little Ringed Plover of the year on Friday and on Saturday John Beak saw the first Sand Martin. This morning JFT also had a Willow Warbler and Swallow.

17th Mar 2024: Rock Pipit

Tuesday afternoon there was a Peregrine over, mobbing the Buzzards, and 5+ Chiffchaffs with a few singing birds.

Wednesday morning I found a Rock Pipit (Scandinavian littoralis) on the eastern shore which was good as we tend to get autumn birds instead of spring birds. There was also several Chiffchaffs. John also spotted a ringed Black-headed Gull (EMK1) which we've had here a few times before.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

10th Mar 2024: Red-legged patch rarity!

This week I managed to get out a few times and there's definitely more signs of spring being close. On Wednesday there were 12 Siskins in the Alders near the entrance with constant singing. There was also a Chiffchaff singing further along the river. On Thursday there were 5 Gadwall on the reservoir.

Saturday morning JFT had 2 Chiffchaffs and later I had singles of Yellowhammer, Raven and Lapwing over.

Today JFT was out early before the rain started and was rewarded with a Red-legged Partridge in the the cattle field. This is a big rarity for the patch!

3rd Mar 2024

Pretty quiet week again. Clive had 25 Siskins this morning. Also a Stonechat in the cattle field, which is likely a bird moving through.

25th Feb 2024: winter bits and bobs

The lack of recent blog posts is mostly down to lack of visits but there's not been much news generally, it's fair to say it's been a bit slow.

There's been more flooding... 

Monday 22nd Jan, there was another Pintail (a duck this time) on the reservoir.

Monday 29th Jan, John Beak had 4 Shelduck on the reservoir that didn't stay long before flying off again.

Sunday 4th, Clive had a Peregrine over. 

Today, JFT had a Yellowhammer over.

Some winter sun has meant that Brimstone, Peacock and Red Admiral butterflies have all been seen in these weeks too.

21st Jan 2024

Quite a cold week with most of the reservoir being frozen over by Friday but thawing out again over the weekend. 

Friday afternoon there were 52 Tufted Duck and a single drake Gadwall on the reservoir making use of the small area of ice free water. Up the valley I heard the (I assume the same) Cetti's Warbler singing by the river and there was at least 7 Snipe along the river.

Mark found a Yellow-legged Gull stood on the ice at the reservoir on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday our first Greenfinch of the year was along the river.

14th Jan 2024

Following the flooding last week the river level has gone very low again, even lower than it was at the end of last year. The freshly exposed mud under the railway bridge had fresh signs of Otter.

On Wednesday there was a little bit of activity and a couple of new birds with Kingfisher, Chiffchaff, Sparrowhawk, Raven and 13+ Siskins. Typically, some of these were birds we couldn't find last Sunday on the short day count!

John had a/the Goosander on Thursday and it was around again today. Also seen today were 64 Greylag Geese at the reservoir and then up the valley, Pheasant, Woodcock, 22 Snipe, 5 Gadwall at the Borrow Pit pool and 5 Lapwing up the valley.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

7th Jan 2024: A bit wet!

Dawn broke on New Year's Day with the patch (and a lot of other places) flooded. It wasn't too high to get in with wellington boots and a bit of care but some of the pathways around the wood (near the river especially) were too deep to walk along, so I accessed the Upper Cherwell Valley from the Gateway/M&S car park. A good number of birds seen for the first day, including Siskins, a Chiffchaff, a Stonechat, a drake Pintail, 2 Wigeon and a Snipe. A flock of birds passed over really high going south that JFT and I thought were most likely Golden Plover but we couldn't say for definite.

Wednesday morning the flooding was even worse and access to the reservoir not possible in the morning so I went up the valley but Ian managed a walk round in the afternoon. I added 5 Teal and 3 Lesser Redpoll to the year list and Ian had a drake Goosander on the Reservoir, which Adrian T also saw on Thursday.

This morning Clive and I were out and had a really good look around the patch, as part of the B.O.S. Short Day Count of SP44. We had a couple of new birds for the year list with a single Great Black-backed Gull over twice (possibly two birds) and a Lapwing in one of the fields that was still holding some flood water. Other notable sightings on patch were 5 Great Crested Grebes on the reservoir, 2 Gadwall on the Borrow Pit pool, 3 Wigeon, c.40 Snipe in one wet field and 2 Stonechat. Out of patch a Peregrine in town and a Goosander at Wroxton were good birds to get but there was not a lot else really.

Yesterday afternoon one of my friends took this overhead shot as the plane he was on passed over on the approach to Heathrow. This would have been at around 5500 m and a lot higher than most migratory birds would be flying over, but an interesting perspective of the patch and the surrounding area.

Courtesy and copyright of Allan Jones

31st Dec 2023

As expected there were no big surprises for the end of the year. Apparently the Ross's Goose was back on Monday with some Greylags. I expect they've been mostly in the floods somewhere along the Cherwell, as there's been hardly any geese at the reservoir. 

On Wednesday 2 Lapwings did a few circuits of the reservoir before flying south and there was a Gadwall on the reservoir. A few Siskins flew over too.

Yesterday there was a drake Wigeon with 3 Gadwall at the Borrow Pit pool and a Lesser Redpoll flew over. 

This morning Clive had a Peregrine over and there was a Wigeon on the reservoir and a Chiffchaff along the river. 

Happy new year! Fingers crossed for some good birds in 2024. 

Recent photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

24th Dec 2023

A very quiet couple of weeks towards the end of the year, but that could be down to the lack of visits. A drake Goosander has been seen on and off.

A decent addition to the year list this late in the year was a Cetti's Warbler yesterday, heard singing from the scrub along the River Cherwell just north of the M40. A fairly scarce species for the patch, but with a run of recent records I assume likely to become more regular. 

Hopefully the last week of the year has another surprise or two... Happy Christmas!

10th Dec 2023: Pochard

John was out on Tuesday and found 5 Red-crested Pochards, a Pochard and a Goosander at the reservoir. The Pochard was new for the year and was around until Friday. A Goosander was also present on Weds and Friday at least. 

Yesterday Edwin had 2 Peregrine over the reservoir and there was 3 Gadwall up on the Borrow Pit pool. 

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

3rd Dec 2023

There was a single redhead Goosander was at the reservoir Tuesday but four there today - 3 redheads and an immature male. 

Yesterday and today there was a Ross's Goose with the Canada Geese - nice to see but certainly an escape from a collection! Also present yesterday was 3 Wigeon and a Chiffchaff at the reservoir and a Brambling just into the Upper Cherwell Valley. Today Clive had a Stonechat in the plantation field. 

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

26th Nov 2023: Green Sandpiper

Not many visits or much news this week, but a couple of new birds for the year. 

Yesterday there was 2 Wigeon on the reservoir and up into the valley a Green Sandpiper flew north along the river calling. I managed to pick out a flock of Golden Plovers flying in the distance towards Chipping Warden and what was possibly an adult Caspian Gull in the fields but I couldn't confirm it.

Today Clive had 2 Goosanders fly over the reservoir. There was a couple of Lesser Redpolls around with one at the reservoir and one by the Borrow Pit pool. In amongst a reasonable number of gulls I found a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls and what looked like a Caspian Gull, but it wasn't quite right. I sent some photos to John and a couple of other friends and they agreed it looked off and later Ian Lewington confirmed it was probably a hybrid.

19th Nov 2023

It's fair to say it's been a fairly quiet couple of weeks. A few visits from a few different people hasn't resulted in anything particularly notable, but there's been a couple of interesting records.

Last Sunday Clive had 2 small waders fly over but couldn't see them well enough to ID. I'm assuming they were probably Dunlin. Sandra also counted 42 Tufted Ducks.

Wednesday morning I had 47 Cormorants at the reservoir, which I think is my biggest count here. There was also 4 Shoveler (2 pairs).

John had c.50 Lapwing fly over south yesterday. 

This morning a Little Egret was in the cattle field when Clive went round and it was still there this afternoon when John went round. He also saw a Peregrine.