26th June 2016

It has been reasonably quiet so this is just a brief round of of the end of the week.

Thu 23rd: Steve had Little Ringed Plover and Common Tern at the reservoir.

Sat 25th: Mark had a Hobby hawking dragonflies over the Borrow Pit pool.

Today I had a Willow Tit in the wood with a foraging flock of tits, warblers and Treecreepers. A Common Tern was at the reservoir but flew away over the river, one was later at the Borrow Pit pool and then one was back at the reservoir. There was a recently fledged Moorhen chick along the river and three fledged Crows. There was also at least two Yellow Wagtails at the Borrow Pit but I didn't see the Channel Wagtail.

21st Jun 2016

John had been out at lunch time and saw a Little Ringed Plover at the reservoir. Why these plovers are still turning up here is a bit of a mystery, but they must be breeding somewhere nearby. Where, is another question...

We haven't seen each other since our trip to Poland so planned a walk after work. The reservoir was quiet, as expected. The wood was a little more active but with only the Sparrowhawks heard calling, and not seen, of any note. So we venture on to the Upper Cherwell Valley.

At the Borrow Pit poll we found a Gadwall in heavy moult and a Little Grebe, which we haven't had as many sightings of this year as last year. There are still some Tufted Ducks here too. The Channel Wagtail was still at the far end with at least one other Yellow Wagtail. Around the pool we searched for inverts and saw several Common Blue and a few Blue-tailed Damselflies. A single Black-tailed Skimmer flew out of the grass not to be seen again. There was also two Meadow Brown and single Common Blue butterflies.

19th Jun 2016

I was out both days this weekend for general ambles and to familiarise myself with the current goings on around the reservoir. Two Common Terns were present Saturday and three this morning. I assume these must be failed or non-breeders that have settled here for the rest of the summer.

I checked the Sparrowhawk nest both days but didn't see any activity. Wrens and more Blackcaps have fledged in the wood. Around the Borrow Pit pool Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings are busy feeding chicks either about to fledge or that have recently fledged and the Coots have nine chicks recently hatched.

There were a lot of damsel and dragonfly exuviae around the Borrow Pit on Saturday, but in the dull overcast conditions I failed to see any on the wing. I didn't see any butterflies on either day, which I found slightly odd. Sunday morning though Clive had Emperor and Four-spotted Chasers flying around. This had also attracted a foraging Hobby to the area.

Orange Tip butterfly caterpillar 

16th Jun 2016

On Tuesday 14th John was out at lunch time and had two Common Terns and a Little Ringed Plover.

Today I had an opportunity to visit in the morning, the first time I have been in nearly two weeks! As I walked up a Common Tern flew off and two people walking ahead of me disturbed an Oystercatcher, which flew off north east. In the wood there was a bird moving around on the Sparrowhawk nest but I couldn't see if it was an adult or a well developed chick. Chiffchaffs, Whitethroats and Blackcaps are fledging and the Whitethroats along the western path were very approachable. There was also fresh Otter spraint under the railway bridge so they are still active in the area.

13th June 2016

The quiet spell continues. Mark had two Common Terns this afternoon but there was nothing else of note.

There appear to be waders and gulls moving around the country again already so hopefully we will start seeing something more interesting soon.

09th June 2016

Colin visited on Sunday 5th and had a few interesting sightings. Following on from the late Common Sandpiper there was a late Little Ring Plover that flew north. There were two Yellow Wagtails in the cattle field and the Channel Wagtail was still up by the Borrow Pit pool. It was with a female Yellow Wagtail, which it appears to be paired up with. An unusual sighting for the Borrow Pit was a Great Crested Grebe, which neither of us have recorded there before.

Courtesy and copyright of John Friendship-Taylor

John visited today and had two Common Terns but not a lot else.

06th Jun 2016

Just a quick post as I'm playing catch up from my week away. There was not a lot of news from Grimsbury, but a few bits of interest are below.

29th May - Steve had a Red Kite over south. I wonder if it is the same bird that we had on the 28th?

30th May - Colin had a Common Sandpiper, Reed Warbler and two Sedge Warblers singing and Whitethroats feeding chicks.

04th June - Tony Crisp had the Channel Wagtail still by the Borrow Pit pool. It will be very interesting to see if this bird has paired up with a female and breeds successfully.


There seems to be a few Lesser Black-backs in the area with sporadic sightings at the reservoir. Most are immature birds but some are adults. They may just be non breeding individuals but I have been wondering if they might breed somewhere in town.

3rd June 2016: juvenile grey wagtails and swifts

Mike here, just keeping the blog ticking over until Gareth returns from the opposite end of the EU.  A few of us have been out and about over the past few days but not too much to get excited about. Colin reports the appearance of Chiffchaff fledglings near the wood.  This morning there were two or three juvenile grey wagtails feeding along the reservoir shoreline.  Good to see, as not long ago I watched one of the fledglings from the "pipe nest" near the entrance to the reservoir being gobbled up by a Crow.  This morning there were also about forty or so swifts flying low over the reservoir and around the trees, desperately trying to feed in the continued very cool conditions, plus a few house martins and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull.  Probably won't be too long now before we see the return of the Yellow-legged Gulls.