17th April 2016

John and I were out for a bit this morning and we met Clive and Jim out too. We had a nice variety of birds but nothing new. A Common Sandpiper at the reservoir and a Wheatear, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, a couple of Sedge Warblers and three Yellow Wagtails in the Upper Cherwell Valley. There seemed to be more Willow Warblers around today too. Colin saw a Mallard with four ducklings and confirmed Wren nesting in the wood.

Courtesy and copyright of Colin

Courtesy and copyright of Colin

Wood Warbler
Our walk was interrupted, in a good way I should add, with news from Colin Wilkinson of a Wood Warbler in Spiceball Park. This is of course off patch but I thought it was worth a mention here as it is so close. Colin had the bird singing at around 10:50, but not full or prolonged song. It was on the eastern side of the river between the two pedestrian river bridges. He saw it feeding in the tops of the sycamores but it remained quiet. The rest of us made our way to the park to try and see it but unfortunately it was not seen or heard again and probably moved through quite quickly or may have still be there but remained unseen. There was also numerous Willow Warblers in the park and there was obviously a lot of birds fresh in today.

Some 'just for the record' shots from Colin below.