2nd Jan 2020: Pochard

Dylan was up at the reservoir today and recorded a drake Pochard. Nice to get that on the year list early in the year.

New Year Sightings

Happy New Year! Let's hope it's a good one.

New years day was a fairly easy and steady start of the year list. I went up for a quick walk around at lunchtime and notched up 28 species. Nothing terribly exciting really but a pleasant stroll.

I will update the year list ASAP. Please send over news of any sightings if I miss them or as new sightings are recorded as the year goes on.

End of 2019

It was a rather slow end to the year tbh, until John visited at the end of the month (that guy has a knack of turning stuff up anytime!).

On the 27th he had three Great Black-backed Gulls go over.

On the 28th he had a Shelduck circle over before flying off north, 49 Lapwing over and then two drake Pintail over. Site rarity to end the year!

All photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

Thanks for all the records this year!

8th Dec 2019

Clive had two Goosanders at the reservoir this morning. John was up in the afternoon but there wasn't much else around.

1st Dec 2019: Med Gull

This afternoon John had a Mediterranean Gull flew through. Oddly our first record of the year at a fairly unusual time of year for this site. There was also a drake Goosander. 

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

30th Nov 2019: Goldeneye

John continued a run of good birds for the end of the month. Five, yes five, species of duck were at the reservoir... The best being a very smart pair of Goldeneye, the first here for a few years. There was also singles of Gadwall and Pochard, as well as the usual Mallards and Tufted Ducks.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

24th Nov 2019

This morning Clive had two Egyptian Geese again before they flew off to the north. It's possible they are lingering in the wider area.

19th Nov 2019

Photos courtesy and copyright of Dave Fuller

17th Nov 2019

Adrian checked the reservoir early morning and found a Little Egret settled in the flooded cattle field, but unfortunately not much else. In the Upper Cherwell Valley the flood water had mostly gone but Mike still found 40 Wigeon and 16 Teal in the fields. John also had two Stonechat by the Borrow Pit, nine Snipe (6 over & 3 in the usual wet field), c.15 Lapwing, a Jay & several Siskin.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

16th Nov 2019: Great Whites!

Following some heavy flooding in the last few days I was unsure whether to bother going up to the reservoir or not, knowing that the access road was completely flooded yesterday. Anyway, I decided to get my wellingtons on and give it a go and I'm very glad I did.

I'd walked up the eastern side and just about managed to get around a very flooded woodland and was just making my way back to the reservoir along the southern side of the wood when I bumped in the John. I was disappointed with the lack of birds so far and we stood chatting, catching up on general life. A Yellowhammer flew over, which was a patch year tick for John and I think he'd have been happy with that but what happened in the next few minutes was completely unexpected!

As we were chatting and scanning the gulls, covids and Starlings in the flooded cattle field, I picked up two Egyptian Geese flying in that landed in the field. This was a patch tick for me and only the second site record, plastic as they may be it was a nice sight. Just as we'd finished getting a few photos of those, I picked up two large white birds flying towards us from the south. My brain at first dismissed them as swans but then I then did a double take as my brain caught up with my eyes and I might have uttered an expletive! Two Great White Egrets were flying over north-west before turning more northerly. They didn't stop, but with the amount of flood water around I thought they may have settled up the valley. Unfortunately there was no further sign of them when I and a few others looked. When I got back to the reservoir the geese were gone too. A flurry of activity for five mins - proving that sometimes its all just lucky timing...

Whilst checking the U.C.V. later in the day, Mike had five Shoveler and thirty-four Wigeon in the flooded fields.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT

12th Nov 2019

It's been a very quiet start to the month so far. On the 9th John had a Fieldfare, two Coot and eight Great Crested Grebe. This morning there was equally not a lot going on, but there are loads of gulls in the U.C.V. The Marsh Tit was very vocal in the wood. At the reservoir there was only one Coot and two Great Crested Grebes and no Little Grebe. I assume they left during or around the various firework displays going on nearby.

31 Oct 2019 - Brambling

Not many highlights for the end of the month, but it's been nice to have more waterbirds around than usual.

Steve went on the 25^th and had six Great Crested Grebes, 262 Canada and one Greylag Goose, 94 Mallard, a female Wigeon, five Mute Swan, 39 Cormorants and two Coot.

On the 27^th the number of Great Crested Grebes had increased to eight.

There was a good movement of birds on the morning of the 29^th I had a Brambling go over north-west and about 120 Fieldfare.

The morning of the 30^th there was also a lot of general movement but no big numbers. There was at least 11 Siskin over south, 11 Lapwing west and a Mistle Thrush in the trees along the river. Mike also had a pair of Stonechat up at the Borrow Pit.

On the 31^st Mike had three Coot (!) and a 3CY Yellow-legged Gull. 

Photos courtesy and copyright of Dave Fuller

23rd Oct 2019: Woodcock

On the reservoir there was an unusually high number of waterbirds today, nothing terribly interesting but notable numbers for here. I counted 422 Canada Geese (which may be a record count for here) and one Greylag Goose and in amongst them were two Coot, a Little Grebe and a Tufted Duck.

In the woodland the Marsh Tit was around, which has been present and quite vocal for several weeks, but I failed to find any Chiffchaffs amongst the tit flock and I assume most have now moved on. Along the path near the canal, as I approached the end of the path near the cattle field end, a Woodcock flushed from the nettles about 1 m from the path! This is a good bird for here and only my second sighting on patch after seeing two fly over on a snowy day nearly 10 years ago.

21st Oct 2019: Thrushes!

Back in from a weekend in Norfolk (with John and Dan) where I'd seen some nice birds but not really witnessed the spectacle of autumn migration, the conditions were good for birds moving in from the east today (typical!). I should have gone up the hills but I opted for the reservoir instead.

On arrival nothing really seemed to happening and the only noticeable change was that there was now four Great Crested Grebes instead of two. However, that changed when I started noticing the high flying flocks of thrushes going overhead going towards to the south-west.

Most of the flocks were really quite high and the early flocks flew in and out of the base of the clouds before they cleared a bit later in the morning. It appeared to be mostly Redwings and overall I estimated c.750 birds in several large flocks and 10+ smaller flocks. There were some Fieldfares mixed in amongst them, but not many, although a flock of 40 birds consisting just Fieldfare did go over.

There was also a few small flocks of Starlings going over and a male Stonechat stopped briefly on the bushes on the western side of the reservoir too. There was clearly a good movement of birds today, so maybe I should have gone up the hills...

18th Oct 2019: October so far

So far this month there’s been a steady passage of Meadow Pipits and most days several Skylarks over. Not many highlights but a few notable bits and bobs.

On the 1st I had my first Redwing of the autumn, calling on it's decent into the trees just east of the river. Also a Common Sandpiper still and a Little Grebe along the river.

On the evening of the 04^th 15 Greylag Geese dropped in. Not a rare bird by any stretch but a good number for here. A Peregrine also went over.

On the 05^th John popped in and found a Mandarin and had a Siskin over.

On the 06th Dylan was up at the Borrow Pit and recorded 1 Wigeon, 5 Teal and 14 Tuftied Ducks.

On the 09^th I had a couple of Siskin and a Peregrine over. 

On the 12^th I had 2 Swallow over in the morning and John also had 2 Swallow in the evening.

On the 14^th I had a Yellowhammer go over.

Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT