19th Apr 2020: More Spring Arrivals!

Adrian was out early this morning and found three Common Sandpipers at the reservoir. We crossed paths (at an appropriate distance) when I arrived and he was leaving and he told me he thought he'd had Lesser Whitethroat briefly in the scrub along the river. Then as we were stood talking one started singing away over the western side of the reservoir. The sandpipers flew high northeast at just gone 8 am.

There must have been even more of a fall of warblers, as there were lots singing and Blackcaps were literally everywhere. When I got to the sailing club there were two Sedge Warblers singing in the sparse hawthorn hedge around the perimeter fence. By the time I got to the wood I'd heard seven singing birds and the odd stuttering, scratching or churring calls of a couple of others. There were also a couple of Willow Warblers along the river and a Whitethroat singing from the scrub near to the wood. There were several more of both Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat up the valley too.

In the UCV there was a male Whinchat and two Yellow Wagtails feeding near the sheep along the flood alleviation bund, north of the EA 'no access' gate. Clive also confirmed the Little Grebes have three chicks at the Borrow Pit.

When I got back to the reservoir there was a male Wheatear in the cattle field, near to the hedge along the canal. There had been a a steady trickle of hirundines through all morning but now there were now c.20 House Martins forging over the cattle field and reservoir.

Colin had a similar number of House Martins in the evening and recorded our first Swift of the year.

18th Apr 2020

This morning Adrian had two Yellow Wagtails, 34 Swallows and two Sand Martin. I later added a couple of House Martins too, but unfortunately not much else was seen today.

17th Apr 2020

A change in the weather today resulted in a nice little run of commoner migrants, which are to be expected at this time of year but seem to be a bit scarce some days.

Adrian kicked things off with what appeared to be a fall of at least 14 Blackcaps. Ian has several Sand Martins, House Martin and two Sedge Warblers. Whilst Mike had a  Little Ringed Plover drop in while he was there. Later in the afternoon, all three common hirundines were present and there was a male White Wagtail.

14th Apr 2010

Adrian was out again this morning and had Common Sandpiper and Yellow Wagtail at the reservoir.

13th Apr 2020: Osprey

The early morning rain filled me with optimism to get out early and see if anything had dropped in. There was a Common Sandpiper and two Swallows and a Sand Martin flew through, but otherwise it was fairly quiet to start with.

Up at the Borrow Pit there was 8 Swallows and a Sand Martin hawking over the water. Back at the reservoir there was more Swallows (about a dozen) hawking over and a Yellow Wagtail dropped in before I left.

Early this afternoon Adrian Tysoe was very lucky to find an Osprey perched in a dead tree in the UCV before it flew north. Also, later in the afternoon Diane Bratt had House Martins at the reservoir.

12th Apr 2020

No new birds today but at least two each of Whitethroat and Sedge warbler in the valley. There were no Willow Warblers today.

Colin had noticed the Grey Wagtails are nesting in a pipe in the wall, to the left of the entrance just past the 'Welcome to Grimsbury Reservoir' sign (same place as 2018), but the nest was empty when I went past today.

11th Apr 2020: White Stork (!) and Whitethroat

This morning Adrian was lucky enough to record a White Stork flying NE over the reservoir! The origin of this bird will forever be unknown but it is very likely to be one of the introduced birds from the Knepp Estate, especially as one has been recorded in south Oxon recently too. However, a great bird to see locally!

Sandra was also out earlier and had our first Common Whitethroat of the year up in the valley near the Borrow Pit pool.

This evening Colin had found a Sedge Warbler singing along the river, just before the woodland, and I had a single Swallow over briefly.

10th Apr 2020: Sedge Warbler

This morning Clive was out and had a Swallow fly through north, which unfortunately I missed by a couple of minutes. I headed up the valley and found our first singing Sedge Warbler of the year in the hedgerow along the canal.

9th Apr 2020: House Martin

Adrian was out today and had our our first House Martin of the year.

7th Apr 2020

This morning there were at least four Willow Warblers and a Common Sandiper again. Later in the evening Colin had another Common Tern and three or four Noctule bats fly past.

6th Apr 2020: Willow Warblers and Yellow Wagtails

This morning Ian had our first two singing male Willow Warblers of the year and later in the afternoon Andy Veith had our first three Yellow Wagtails of the year, which Colin also saw later and a Common Sandpiper.

5th Apr 2020: Common Tern and Swallows

A bit of migration action today. When I got to the reservoir at 7 there was a Little Ringed Plover but it soon flew off NE. A (or the) Common Sandpiper was still present but had disappeared by 8:30, while I was up at the Borrow Pit pool where the drake Pochard was still present. A single Sand Martin also flew through.

Back at the reservoir 17 Fieldfare went over west, which I thought was an odd direction to be going. I was also watching large gulls fly through that included a few Herring Gulls, when a Common Tern called and I saw it flying straight towards me at the northern end. It doubled back and flew around the bottom end, but unfortunately I got distracted by the gulls again and when I looked back for the tern it had gone!

Later in the afternoon Mark had c.20 Sand Martins and several Swallows at the reservoir. 

4th Apr 2020: Common Sandpiper

Ian was out today and had our first Common Sandpiper of the year.

2nd Apr 2020: Teal

This morning a female Teal was present (which I think was new for the year?) and a drake Gadwall, both at the reservoir. There were at least three Blackcaps singing this morning.