 |
| Early April |
 |
| End of April |
The week started off fairly standard with John reporting the Sandwich Tern had departed by Monday morning but there being Garden Warbler and three Common Sandpiper at the Reservoir and Dylan reported a Little Ringed Plover in the evening.
Slightly off patch news, but very much of interest, was a WOOD WARBLER Colin found in Spiceball Park on Monday evening. Incredibly, this is the fourth year in a row that one has been found in Spiceball Park or in Grimsbury Woodland N.R.! Four years in a row... in a stretch of habitat 1.2km long... !
 |
| Courtesy and copyright of JFT |
Tuesday morning there were six Common Sandpipers at the reservoir and through the rest of the week there were between one and three birds present. Two Common Terns were present briefly in the evening before leaving to the north.
 |
| Courtesy and Copyright of JFT |
Wednesday morning John found our first six Swifts of the year and for the rest of the week there was a steady passage of birds through and another Common Tern. Wednesday evening there was also our first Hobby of the year and I believe at least one was seen every day to the end of the week with two seen Sunday evening. The Whooper Swan was still present in the U.C.V. on the Borrow Pit pool and I believe this is the first record of one in the area during the month of May - I wonder how long it will stay.
 |
| Courtesy and copyright of JFT |
Thursday morning there were two Garden Warblers singing along the river and two Wheatears in the cattle field.
The long weekend started with a bang on Friday and a frantic phone call from John declaring he'd found a RED-RUMPED SWALLOW at the reservoir. Most people who bird an inland waterbody dream of the day they can say that!
The swallow is the first record for the B.O.S. recording area and the fourth record for Oxfordshire. So it is the rarest bird to ever be recorded at Grimsbury! Understandably it attracted a good number of observers from Banbury and the rest of Oxfordshire on the first day.
 |
| Courtesy and copyright of JFT The first gripping photo he sent out of the Red-rumped Swallow! |
 |
| Courtesy and copyright of JFT |
Video courtesy of Adam Hartley
That first morning the swallow left around 11 am but had returned by 5 pm. It was present again on Saturday morning and showed well for many more people before departing again around 10 am and returning by 3:50 pm. This pattern of behaviour had also been noted with the last bird recorded in Oxfordshire at Farmoor in 2012. This morning the bird was present again but after it left at around 10 am it was the last time it was seen today and not recorded in the afternoon or evening. It was also interesting to note that on Friday and Saturday there were similar overall numbers of hirundines present, but on Friday the vast majority were Barn Swallows and yesterday the vast majority were House Martins. There was clearly a good arrival of birds during those days. There was actually a lot less hirundines this evening than the last few days, so I wouldn't be surprised if it has left.
 |
| Courtesy and copyright of Kyle Smith |
 |
| Courtesy and copyright of Nick Truby |
 |
| Courtesy and copyright of Nick Truby |
Addendum: With all of the excitement of the Red-rumped Swallow, I forgot to put that there was a Barnacle Goose present on Saturday 4th. It was first reported by Conor MacKenzie early morning but was gone when John was there. However, it did return and appeared to spend the rest of the day there. We assume this is one of the feral birds from the home counties and most likely the one seen at Balscote Quarry earlier in the week. However, it is a new species for the patch!
 |
| Courtesy and copyright of JFT |
No comments:
Post a Comment