23rd Dec 2014

It was quite a busy day at Grimsbury for observers, with Mike Pollard, Steve Holliday, Alan Peters, John and I all trudging the paths in search of birds. Collectively there were quite a few birds seen but nothing to really get excited about. Being out in the sun is always a pleasure though.

At the reservoir the two redhead Goosanders were present, along with seven Great Crested Grebes, a Kingfisher and c.45 Black-headed Gulls. Two Bullfinches were around and three Treecreepers were seen together in the wood. Siskins were heard and seen in a few places but numbers seem to be fluctuating quite a lot at the moment. In the Upper Cherwell Valley Mike had five Herring Gulls and a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Mike also had c.20 Lapwings flying over and later John and I had another c.100 over. This is the most we have ever seen here and I wonder if these are 'local' birds we are seeing or birds that are still on migration. Raptors were well represented today with Kestrel, Buzzards, Sparrowhawk seen a few times and a Peregrine flyover.

Courtesy and copyright of John

22nd Dec 2015

John spent his lunch at Grimsbury today, again searching every corner for another elusive year tick. There were two redhead Goosanders on the reservoir and another ringed Black-headed Gull. This one had a white ring with the alpha/numeric combination of AF939. John has emailed the scheme coordinator for exact details, but it seems this bird was ringed in Germany in the same scheme as another bird we had earlier in the year (AF400).

Courtesy and copyright of John

There was not a lot else to report unfortunately. We will still try everything to attempt to get to 130 species though, we live in hope!

21st Dec 2015

Steve Holliday and John visited today.  Between them they managed to see two redhead Goosanders, a female Tufted Duck, five Great Crested Grebes, five adult Common Gulls, eight Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a Grey Wagtail. There was also two Siskins in the wood.

20th Dec 2015

I was out with a good friend today, Allan Jones. He hasn't been out to Grimsbury few a few months at least. He must be a good omen as we had quite a good day, either that or the good weather meant there were more birds around.

Virtually as soon as we got to the reservoir a Red Kite drifted over and departed to the south west. As it went over it put most of the gulls up and later the sailing boats ensured the rest disappeared. Soon after the Red Kite had gone a flock of 19 Lapwings flew over and we saw the three Goosanders near the northern end of the reservoir.

Two Kingfishers were active along the river and one perched up and showed really well in the sunlight. An Otter spraint was under the railway bridge, which was new since yesterday and shows they are still quite active in the area. There was no sign of the Willow Tits today but there was a Chiffchaff calling near the river.

In the wood we saw at least six Siskins and heard at least one Lesser Redpoll, but all were flighty and and we weren't sure of exact numbers. Searching for the Willow Tits again a flock of around 300 Golden Plover wheeled around above us. I assume they had been flushed from one of the nearby fields and were searching for somewhere else to settle.

Oxfordshire birders Ian Smith and Ben Carpenter visited today too, in search of Willow Tits. Unfortunately they didn't see them but they did see the Danish ringed Black-headed Gull, VK40. Ian emailed the ringer and so we now have details for this bird. It was ringed as a pullus in 2011 on the Hirsholm island. It has only been recorded three times since, all at Grimsbury and it seems to be settled in the area for the winter.

19th Dec 2015

John and I met up today to have a good look around. Of course we were desperately trying to find something new for the year, but that didn't happen. Despite that there were a few notable sightings.

To start with on the reservoir, there were two redhead Goosanders and a drake Tufted Duck. A third drake Goosander had arrived as well before we left.

In the Upper Cherwell Valley we found the two Willow Tits in the scrub just north of the wood, near to where the two parts of the river join back together. Further north there were at least six Meadow Pipits around the banks of the flood alleviation scheme. On our way around we noted how few large gulls were around but we did see at least two Herring Gulls.

18th Dec 2015

Today John discovered the Goosander flock had grown by one again! There were five (3 drakes) present during his lunchtime walk. There was also a Willow Tit in with a large tit flock in the south east corner of the wood.

17th Dec 2015

John was out at lunchtime today and there were four Goosanders (3 drakes) but not a lot else to report.

Courtesy and copyright of John

16th Dec 2015

John and I managed a quick walk around at lunchtime today. There was not a lot around but there was the three Goosanders still. I carried on to have a quick look around half of the wood, but it was dreadfully quiet. There was some fresh Otter spraint under the railway bridge though.

15th Dec 2015

There were three Goosanders (2 drakes) at the reservoir today when John was out for his lunchtime walk. I'm not sure where these birds are travelling to back and forth but it seems likely they are the same birds that go to Boddington Reservoir.

14th Dec 2015

At lunchtime today John had a Dunlin. Another one in December, is really really unusual for Grimsbury!

Courtesy and copyright of John Friendship-Taylor

11th Dec 2015

Well, it would be fair to say this has been a quiet week. John has been out a few times but there has been nothing of note at all.

Mark was out at lunch time today and had a drake Goosander but it was gone by early afternoon. There was also at least six Siskins around.

Courtesy and copyright of Mark Ribbons

Later in the afternoon I had a quick walk around. There were still Siskins along the river and I heard a Lesser Redpoll but didn't see it. Under the railway bridge there was a fairly fresh Otter spraint. There was a reasonable number of Black-headed Gulls building up to roost too with a few each of Lesser Black-backed and Common Gulls.

06th Dec 2015

I was out for a good walk around today, but there was not a lot to get excited about. There was a lot of gulls flying over and gathering on the reservoir, so it was back to scouring through them for anything decent. At the peak there was up to 40 Commons, 20 Lesser Black-backs and the ubiquitous Black-headed Gulls. There was at least a couple of adult Herring Gulls that came through. There was also another one at the Borrow Pit pool with a second winter bird.

Other highlights were a Raven over that had a little tussle with a Crow as it passed, a Kingfisher that zipped through along the river, a handful of Siskins around the river and in the wood and four Little Grebes at the Borrow Pit pool.

Mark was out at the reservoir at dusk and there was a redhead Goosander present.

04th Dec 2015

John visited late morning today and I had a quick look around late afternoon. There was no sign of the Brent Goose today, unfortunately. John had a Raven fly over north and a Chiffchaff calling from the hedge through the cattle fields. There was not a lot else around today though.

03rd Dec 2015: Brent Goose!

John had visited the reservoir at lunchtime yesterday, but there was nothing much to report. Today was a very different story though. It really highlights the fact that an interesting bird could turn up at any time 'out of the blue'.

The outstanding highlight of today was a juvenile Dark-bellied Brent Goose that had decided to join the Canada Geese. It was first on the reservoir and then moved with the Canada Geese to feed in the cattle field. The only other records of Brent Geese here that I know of are of eight flying over in December 1987 and one being present in January 1988. So this is a rare bird here. When I saw it it appeared to be hobbling and may have an injured leg. This won't stop it from leaving but may encourage it to stay around for a short while.

Photos courtesy and copyright of John Friendship-Taylor

The next bit of quality was a Dunlin that John heard calling as it flew in. It settled briefly at the reservoir before heading off high to the east. It is quite unusual to have one at this time of year as they are usually seen here in spring or autumn passage. There was also a Peregrine that flew over north.

01st Dec 2015

The last few days of November were very quiet and as a result there were no blog posts. This morning was still fairly quiet but there was enough to spur me on to do a blog post.

The highlight of the morning walk was two Willow Tits. These were in the scrub along the river just to the north of the wood. With no sightings for a few weeks it was good to see they were still here, although I didn't manage any good photos.

Otherwise, there was a Tufted Duck on the reservoir and a few Siskins over. It was amazing to see the Wood Pigeons leaving the roost in the wood. They come streaming out by the hundreds and then you realise they all managed to find a space in there to roost in the first place.

As I left a large grey mantled gull flew through south. I didn't see enough of it to confirm the identity so it will go unidentified unless anyone wants to have a crack at it.. it appears to have a slight band on P5 but has quite thick wedge of black on the primaries...