Adrian T found our first Wheatear of the year this morning, which felt very overdue, and there was also the or another Sedge Warbler along the river. Our first Common Sandpiper of the year was found later in the day by Mike Prentice.
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| Courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard |
John was out early this morning and had our first Sedge Warbler of the year along the river. Also of note, one Little Ringed Plover and a flyover Mistle Thrush carrying something (possibly food or a faecal sac).
Ian had two Little Ringed Plovers this morning along with a few Willow Warblers and good numbers of hirundines.
A very dull and dreary morning with little around early on but at least four House Martins and 20+ each of Swallow and Sand Martin later in the morning. I'd just done my full walk around the patch and was on my way out when some very vocal gulls drew my attention to an Osprey flying over the buildings to the west of the reservoir, apparently following the canal northwards. It turned to fly towards the reservoir and fortunately right over my head! By now though it had at least eight Lesser Black-backed Gulls, four Crows and about 15 Rooks on its tail so it didn't hang around at all and the last I saw of it it went back towards the canal and generally north up the Cherwell Valley.
A few other bits of note were at least one Siskin still around and two Willow Warblers.
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5 of the 6 Photos courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard |
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| Courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard |
A bit of a bumper day of new arrivals today. Mike and I arrived at pretty much the same time and walked up both sides of the reservoir. A single Swallow appeared as we did and then as we stood talking more arrived and Mike counted ten (as well as several Sand Martins) on his way out.
I went off up the valley and on my return I found two Yellow Wagtials alnong the western shore. Sandra later found our first House Martin of the year too.
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| Photo courtesy and copyright of Edwin Barson https://www.facebook.com/EBarsonphotography |
On Monday I was a bit later up to the resevoir and on arrival mid morning there was a big group (big for here) of Common Gulls fly-catching over the water. Constantly wheeling around and altering height they were hard to count with any accuracy but I estimated 150. There had obviously been a good fly emergence in the morning and they were making the most of it. Smaller flocks passed through later too, so they were well and truly on the move that day. Other bits of note were a single Sand Martin, two singing Blackcaps and a Mistle Thrush. I also spotted two Brimstone butterflies and six Small Tortoiseshells.
Tuesday Morning John had a Little Ringed Plover, but again it left fairly early. There had been an arrival of Blackcaps with at least seven and possibly nine singing birds around the patch. The only other bird of note was a drake Gadwall on the Borrow Pit pool.
This morning John had our first Willow Warbler of the year and a flyover Lesser Redpoll.
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| Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT |
On Monday Adrian T had two Mistle Thrushes singing near the Water Treatment Works. I was out late up the valley looking for owls but with no joy, although there was several Snipe that I heard coming out of their roosts at dusk.
On Thursday Adrian T found our first Little Ringed Plover of the year. A highly anticipated sighting, but unfortunately it didn't stay very long.
Friday morning John recorded our first Blackcap of the year with a singing male along the river.
The Marsh Tit was recorded singing on a few days but ranged widely aross the site from the wood, to scrub east of the river and at the Water Treatment Works.
Sand Martins passed through in small numbers most days this week, with a group of 20 seen by Mike P on Friday during a rain shower.
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| Photos courtesy and copyright of Kyle Smith |
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| Photos courtesy and copyright of Edwin Barson https://www.facebook.com/EBarsonphotography |
I spotted our first Sand Martins of the year this morning, with three lingering for c.10 mins before carrying on with their migration north.
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| Photos courtesy and copyright of Dave Fuller |
John was lucky to see a Redshank pass through this morning, albeit briefly.
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| Courtesy and copyright of JFT |
Adrian B found a Shoveler and three Gadwall on the reservoir today. A pair of the Gadwall stayed around for a few days. Adrian T also had another two Raven over the Borrow Pit on the 4th.
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| Courtesy and copyright of Mike Curnow |
The first hint of Spring today with a singing Chiffchaff along the river at the back of the woodland. I assume this must be a bird that wintered locally - maybe at Sptial Farm Lake/the Sewage Treatment Works. There was also a Brimstone and Small Tortoiseshell on the wing.
People talk about the summer doldrums, but my opinion is the winter is worse. We've started our year lists and tallied up as many species as we can mid winter and then we start looking forward to spring. And what a long and boring wait that is.... at least in the 'summer doldrum' period of the year there should be other flora and fauna to look at and, in theory, nice weather to enjoy! Anyway, since the last blog post the winter species seen were very much the same but there was a few things to keep us interested.
The most notable sighting being a Raven Adrian T saw fly over on the 1st Feb. A Little Grebe was around on the reservoir for a few weeks, which is very unusual for here. There was a really good number of Tufted Ducks around using both the reservoir and the Borrow Pit pool with several counts of over 50 birds and for much of the time a drake Pochard around too. The Great Crested Grebe count peaked at six birds. The regular Stonechats remained at the Borrow Pit and in the cattle field and Mike had five on one day, so there must have been an additional pair that moved in late winter - possibly on passage. Also there were several Siskins around for the most part.
