07th May 2018: the Long Day Count

This weekend was the annual B.O.S. Long Day Count. I didn't think I'd be able to do it this year, but it turned out my plans for today changed and as a bonus Clive was around to help me. It was a good job really as it was a really tough day and we only completed 11 hours, but if I was on my own I probably would have given up quite while before that! I think the heat had big impact on the behaviour of the birds and us as observers, and most of the expected migrants were well on their way north or so high in the sky we couldn't see them.

Naturally, we started at Grimsbury where we manged to see the bulk of our birds and picked up a few things of note for here. We had a Mistle Thrush singing away to the west near the canal, a Greylag Goose fly over, a single Swallow at the Borrow Pit and two later at the reservoir (our only ones of the day...), four Lapwings over the Borrow Pit (which unfortunately was probably our most interesting sighting of the day!) and a Reed Warbler back on territory along the river.

We didn't pick up anything of real note at all, although we did choose to avoid some sites with long walks due to heat and general exhaustion. We only had Dunnock at about midday (!) so that is a good example of how bad it was. A few other people noted a lack of House Martins and Swifts the day before and we only saw two to four House Martins over Wroxton and one Swift over Shotteswell, that was it.

We ended on 63 species, so nine under par. Hopefully next year is a really good one.

6th May 2018

A quiet weekend really. Colin was out this morning and saw a single Common Sandpiper at the reservoir, which is likely to be our last one of the spring.

4th May 2018: Reed Warbler

John: Had a lovely, mild walk about first thing this morning and there was seemingly a mini arrival of warblers, with 8 different species in song! Best of these was a first Reed Warbler of the year, singing from the hedge along the canal, just west of the wood. A Sedge Warbler was also singing there, as well as another singing occasionally along the river just south of the wood.

There appeared to be more Whitethroat with at least 5 males about. Garden and Willow Warbler were heard together with Lesser Whitethroat, Chiffchaff & Blackcap too, completing the eight. That's 10 species of warbler now for the year at Grimsbury, following on from the Wood & Grasshoppers in the last couple of weeks.

Away from the warblers, it was a very quiet day overall, with a handful of Sand Martin through and a few lingering Swifts & House Martins.

3rd May 2018

News from Colin today:

Very quiet this morning though many warblers in song – 2 gardens, 4 blackcaps, 1 lesser whitethroat, and a tally of at least 10 sedge inc 5 in the Borrow Pit area, 3 along the canal between railway and M40.

About 12 swifts and 20 house martins feeding at height over the cattle field. Also a fox lying in the sun at the base of the fence at the back of that field, near the corner with the water works.

2nd May 2018: Sanderling

John: Today's weather promised much on the bird front, with a strong southerly breeze and some heavy showers forecast for the morning at least.

I braved the conditions early morning in anticipation. Pleasingly, the expectation was realised with a lovely partially summer-plumaged Sanderling appearing along the western shore. Gareth arrived soon after and we watched it for a little while, also noting a brief Wheatear and a Common Sandpiper. The Sanderling was last seen at around 11am, however as the skies cleared, appears to have departed not too long after.

Sanderlings have in the past been a very scarce bird at Grimsbury, however this is now I think the fourth year in a row they have occurred which is rather impressive!

1st May 2018

It was a lovely sunny morning, but my hopes of seeing my first Garden Warbler of the year today did not materialise. There was quite a lot of warbler activity though, with at least three Willow Warblers singing along the river, two each of singing Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat and the now ubiquitous Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, but there were no Lesser Whitethroats heard today.

There was a Common Sandpiper at the reservoir and a few swifts and several hirundines around. One Great Crested Grebe was still here this morning and I sat and watched it preening for a few minutes, really appreciating it's summer finery. Admittedly it's not a bird I stop to watch very often, but I found myself in complete awe this morning. On my way out I found a Goldfinch nest and will try to keep an eye on it over the course of the spring.

This afternoon John saw the Common Sandpiper was still present and there was a few Swifts, but not a lot more.

30th Apr 2018

A relatively quiet day today in comparison to yesterday. The Redstart was still around but was painfully elusive and it was only in the evening John saw or heard it properly.

Later in the evening I had two Whitethroats singing along the river. There was c.15 Swifts and 40+ House Martins zipping around, but not a lot else.

29th Apr 2018: Redstart

Colin spent a good few hours at the reservoir this morning and recorded a nice bit of passage. At the peak there was c.150 hirundines and several Swifts, with birds moving through being replaced by new birds almost constantly and eventually less birds were hanging around.
A Hobby and a Peregrine went through north and Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Kestrel and Red Kite were all seen today (six raptors in one day here is pretty good!). A Mistle Thrush flew over south east.

Colin noted the Willow/Marsh Tit pair in courtship behaviour and that it was probably a female Willow Tit and male Marsh Tit. Warblers seemed quiet in the cold conditions but there was a Garden Warbler in song near the entrance and a couple of Whitethroats around, including one nest building by the reservoir and another in song north of the railway.
He has also confirmed nesting of Long-tailed Tit (3 nests) and Greenfinch. Song Thrushes are definitely nesting on site somewhere and Starlings off site but nearby, as they are collecting food from around the reservoir and in the cattle field.

I had a Common Sandpiper at the Borrow Pit but there wasn't much more up there. On my way back down the reservoir I found our first Redstart of the year in the scrub along the western path. Later in the evening Mark had three Yellow Wagtails at the Borrow Pit too.

28th Apr 2018: Common Tern

Another Hobby through north this morning, spotted by John. Also, two to three Yellow Wagtails, a White Wagtail, four Common Sandpipers and c.150 hirundines.

This afternoon, Colin recorded our first Common Tern through. Although, it was very high over the reservoir to the northwest and didn't seem interested in even coming down to the reservoir. He also recorded two pairs of Greylag Goose fly over north.

27th Apr 2018: Hobby

The weather forecast for today appeared as though it would produce some decent birding. however, the reality was pretty poor. On the plus side, John recorded our first Hobby of the year flying through north in the morning. There was a grounded Yellow Wagtail at lunch time. Otherwise, there was a good number of hirundines and two Common Sandpiper but not a lot else.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

25th Apr 2018: Shag!!

John started the morning with three Common Sandpipers and four Swifts.

Ian was out in the afternoon and just after a heavy rain storm at about 3pm, a 1st year SHAG flew through from the south. This is a huge rarity for the BOS area and I believe it is the first record for Grimsbury Reservoir. Well done Ian!

24th Apr 2018: Garden Warbler

John found our first Garden Warbler of the year this morning. There was also a Wheatear in the cattle field and three Common Sandpipers.

At Lunch time there was the first couple of Swifts for the year and c.50 hirundines, mostly House Martins.

All photos courtesy and copy right of JFT

22nd Apr 2018

There wasn't a huge amount of particular note this weekend, but there was a noticeable increase in warblers. That included 11+ Sedge Warblers, several Lesser Whitethroats and a couple of Common Whitethroats. There was also a few Common Sandpipers and the Willow and Marsh Tit were in the wood too.

20th Apr 2018: Wood Warbler

When the Black-necked Grebe was here last Friday John, Mike, Colin and I joked that it's nearly time for a Wood Warbler to be found again... Colin said it'd be a about a week away and he was spot on!

One was singing in the woodland this morning when John walked round, in exactly the same place that he found one two years ago. It remained in the same area for a short time but was mostly quiet, but I did manage to see it shortly after I arrived (and finally patch tick Wood Warbler!). John had to go to work but I stayed watching it, as it moved four times to the north-east hop-skipping to isolated clumps of deciduous trees each time. The last I saw of it (c.9am), I thought it had moved further east again, to the willows over the river and assumed it was then gone. However, I later relocated at c.10:40 in the western corner of the wood by the canal. It wasn't reported as seen or heard again after that, but I expect it remained all day.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

Last week we were only joking of course, but the remarkable thing is that a Wood Warbler has been seen in the area in for three years in a row now. There was a bird in Spiceball Park on 17/04/16 and then the bird at Grimsbury 21/04/18 (which was possibly the same bird?), then a bird in Spiceball Park 26-27/04/17 and this bird today. All sightings in two locations 1.2 km apart.

It's reasonable to assume that these sightings all involve one bird, isn't it? However, a note from Richard Broughton on Twitter (who is off to Poland soon to study Wood Warbler behaviour) indicated this would be be unlikely as Wood Warblers are notoriously nomadic. So does that mean we've really been lucky enough to have three, possibly four, Wood Warblers visit this small area in three years? If so, we are very lucky indeed!

Other sighting today included a Sedge Warbler along the canal, the two Willow/Marsh Tits in the wood (Mark), a couple each of Siskin and Lesser Redpoll, c.20 Hirundines - mostly Sand Martin, a Yellow Wagtail over the cattle field and a pair of flyover Mistle Thrush (John).

19th Apr 2018

John had Common Sandpiper this morning and a noticeable increase in Blackcaps but the most notable sighting was four Jays in the wood. One Jay is notable for here so four together is a decent sighting!

A little later I had a Yellowhammer fly through south and a Red Kite drift over. At lunch time John saw a group of seven 2CY Common Gulls circle over.