30th May 2017

A couple of interesting sightings today. Two Great Crested Grebes are back, seen by Steve at lunch time and John later in the day. John also had a drake Pochard late afternoon/early evening. It is an odd time to see these species here and the assumption is that they are failed breeders moving around already.

29th May 2017

Andy Veitch visited today and saw two Mistle Thrushes, a good sighting for here. A Little Ringed Plover was still at the reservoir and there is still a good mix of warblers singing including numerous Sedge Warblers around the Borrow Pit pool up the valley.

28th May 2017

On Monday John had two male Little Ringed Plovers at the reservoir and Mike had one on Tuesday. Mike also saw the Chiffchaffs feeding chicks and took the photo below.

Thursday Steve saw singles of Brimstone and Holly Blue butterflies and today a male Little Ringed Plover was at the reservoir

Courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard

21st May 2017

Back to normal for the weekend. The only notable bird at the reservoir being a male Little Ringed Plover on Saturday. Swifts are ever present now feeding over and around the reservoir and the odd few house Martins are around.

Great Tits are nesting by the sailing club in the stone building near the river and by the sound of it the chicks are well grown. The Great Spotted Woodpecker chicks are also very noisy now calling when being fed and begging to be fed the rest of the time. Steve also saw Chiffchaffs feeding young at the edge of the wood on Sunday.

On Saturday I saw a Weasel in the wood, chasing after a vole that crossed my path a few seconds before, and there are a lot of Otter spraints around at the moment so it/they are very active in this area again.

19th May 2017: FULMAR (!)

Thursday was a rather quiet day and the only notable bird was a Little Ringed Plover seen by John.

Today though, Steve managed to see a FULMAR over the reservoir. I have no other records of Fulmar from here previously and I think it's safe to assume it is the first time this species has been recorded at this site. It flew in from the south and left again to the south east. On view for less than a minute and Steve just so happened to be there at the right time and looking in the right direction! We often wonder what and how many birds must pass through without being seen and this is a perfect example of one that could have done so very easily. Steve wrote a short account of the sighting for the blog:

This morning it was a bit murky in the showers and overcast with a light westerly wind.  Over 50 hirundine and a couple of swift were feeding very low over the reservoir - the first big concentration I've seen this year.  As i passed the entrance to the sailing club a pair of bullfinches flew in and I stopped to watch them for a few minutes.  Walking towards the gate I noticed a bird flying towards me that  looked "different" and I couldn't work out what it was.  The shape and flight were distinctive and as soon as it banked and I could see its head,  I immediately identified it as a fulmar.  It flew around for a few seconds and then left to the southeast.  

Well done Steve!
*record pending acceptance, Steve has send a description to the O.O.S. and the B.O.S.

17th May 2017

This morning John and Steve saw a Common Sandpiper and a Little Ringed Plover. Steve had a Garden Warbler singing in the Upper Cherwell Valley too.

This afternoon John had two Common Sandpipers that stayed through to the evening when we also had good numbers of Swift and House Martin, several Swallows and the odd Sand Martin.

16th May 2017: House Sparrow

A House Sparrow was a patch year tick for John today. The only other bird of note was a male Little Ringed Plover.

15th May 2017: Sanderling

John had a very good day today and found a Sanderling coming into summer plumage. It is the third Sanderling here in as many years. It makes you wonder if this species really has been a rare visitor to the site or if it has been here nearly every year but there hasn't been enough people looking at various times of the day to see them. A Sand Martin through late afternoon was the only other bird of note.

Pictures courtesy and copyright of JFT

14th May 2017: Long Day Count

Today was the day for the long day count in SP44. Details of the B.O.S. long day count can be found here. I joined up with Clive, John and Dan for the count and naturally we started at Grimsbury and the Upper Cherwell Valley. Our par score was 66.

We started off very well and the early morning rain provided grounded waders in the form of a Ringed Plover (new for the year) and a Dunlin. The rain also meant a couple of fly through Sand Martins made it onto the list, a species I really didn't think we would get today. A Mistlethrush by the water treatment works was also new for the year. Two Common Terns were also a nice surprise as they have not been hanging around at all this year. They were actually mobbing the plastic owl near the sailing club, which I found rather interesting as they are the only birds I have actually seen reacting to this bird deterrent so far. It may be the reason Common Terns have not stayed around as much this year as they have done in the past.

We racked up a good amount of species on patch in the morning and left to search other sites. Whilst we were away Tony Crisp saw a Peregrine over the Borrow Pit pool, a bird we didn't manage to see all day. In the evening we finished at the reservoir and managed to add Little Ringed Plover to the list.

The day was indeed long, and rather warm. We struggled to trudge from site to site picking off the one of two species each one would provide. Highlights from other sites were a Spotted Flycatcher and families of Ravens at two sites. At one site further north (thanks to some information from Kirsty) we saw Curlews and Tree Sparrows and a fly through Hobby. It is a real pleasure to see these birds locally and I'm very happy we managed to get them onto the long day count list.

We finished on a rather respectable 75 species, which is nine over our par score.

Ringed Plover, Painted Lady and Curlew courtesy and copyright of JFT

13th May 2017: Dunlin

I think it's fair to say that it's been a very quiet week. It was so dull that I think John stopped even trying to pick out highlights from his trips!

On Sunday (7th) Steve had one Common Sandpiper and a Little Ringed Plover at the reservoir and a Reed Warbler singing in the reeds along the river just north of the flood alleviation scheme. John has had a Little Ringed Plover a few times too but that was the only notable bird.

Today I thought I'd have a look around and see what was happening. To start with it was dreadfully quiet but later on two Dunlin had dropped in and the Little Ringed Plover was with them. Also, in the Upper Cherwell Valley there were two Reed Warblers along the river where Steve had one on Sunday. In the wood a Rook chick had apparently fallen out the nest, I see at least one every year and I assume they just tumble out whilst stretching their wings. there was also a Blue Tit nesting in one of the Willow Tit boxes and heard a Sparrowhawk calling, making me think they are nesting again, but I couldn't see where.

Blue Tit nesting in this box

6th May 2017

I had a walk around this morning and had a steady stream of Swifts and House Martins through with the odd Swallow and Sand Martin. There was a Reed Warbler singing along the river by the reservoir and a Common Sandpiper, bizarrely along the river in the wood. I think it was flushed as Steve had seen it flying over the car park earlier.

This evening Mark had two Wheatears in the cattle field and a gathering of c.30 Swifts.

5th May 2017

Not much to report other than a good arrival of Swifts today with John seeing c.30 at lunch time and several lingering into the evening.

3rd May 2017

A pair of Oystercatchers found by Jim this morning were new for the year. Good to have them definitely on the list after only a possible reported so far. Even better was that they stayed till lunch time so John and I could see them too.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

2nd May 2017

A large gathering of 30-40 House Martins seen by John and Dan this evening was rather impressive and our first big gathering of them this year. It was business as usual for all other birds though with one each of Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover being the only other birds of note.

29th Apr to 1st May 2017

What a weekend! This was one of those weekends when (unless you had other more important things to be doing) you really should have been out out birding. As always, Grimsbury was frustratingly quiet at times when other sites appeared to be bursting with birds, but we did manage a few goodies including four new species for the year list.

Saturday was rather quiet and I didn't log anything of note except for a small arrival including a Willow Warbler, Garden Warblers and both Whitethroat species.

However, Sunday was far from quiet. John started out early (earlier than I could bring myself to manage) and he was rewarded with five Arctic Terns that flew through south without lingering. He also saw a Swift go through north and two Little Egrets that flew south west and had a Common Sandpiper and two Little Ringed Plovers at the reservoir. I joined him after this early morning burst of activity, but we still managed to see a Hobby and two Common Terns go through north and another Little Egret go south west. At the Borrow Pit there was a Wheatear and a very smart male Whinchat. Colin confirmed later there was a second Whinchat. Other birds included a Reed Warbler, at least three Garden Warblers and Peregrine.
After going off to larger midlands reservoirs to see far more terns inland than either of us had ever seen, we returned to Grimsbury late evening. It was rather quiet and after a short while I decided to leave. I left too early though and as soon as I was home John text to say five Black Terns had dropped in. They stayed for around ten minutes before leaving high to the east.

Some pictures of the birds from Sunday by Kyle here and here and by John here (including some from elsewhere).

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

 

This morning John and I met up just after 6am. We were, rather optimistically, hoping that the strong migration we witnessed yesterday would continue. We saw a Wheatear fairly early on and soon had two and then another single Common Tern through and a Whinchat appeared along the fence a little way from us. We were very hopeful of some (different and more interesting) waders or more terns, but they didn't arrive. Whilst waiting we saw a Peregrine again, a Red Kite, a Common Sandpiper, two Little Ringed Plovers and a few Yellow Wagtails, but that was about it. There were more new warblers with at least five Garden Warblers and noticeably more Sedge Warblers and there were two Common Sandpipers at the Borrow Pit.