It's been a quiet week and for the first week/post this year there were no year ticks. John had a male Peregrine over yesterday morning. This morning there was a Chiffchaff along the river and 5 Gadwall (4 drakes) on the Borrow Pit pool.
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| (photos are actually from Balscote Quarry) |
Thursday morning Bruce Hendrie found a Shelduck at the reservoir and thankfully it stayed around for a while. Mike P also saw c.300 Lapwing over the UCV.
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| Courtesy and copyright of Bruce Hendrie |
Saturday morning I had a walk around and although there are many more birds singing now, including my first singing Reed Bunting of the year, there was little of note. There were 4 Lesser Redpolls feeding in Willowherb along the canal and 4 Gadwall (3 drakes) at the Borrow Pit. As I was leaving a Mistle Thrush flew over the water treatment works.
Friday afternoon a pair of Peregrine flew over towards town, there was at least one Redpoll in the finch flock along the river and c.65 Greylag Geese came in to roost as it got dark (too dark to get an accurate count). There was at least 3 ringed Black-headed Gulls stood on the railings. One had only a metal ring but the 2 with darvic rings were from Norway (white ring J0913) and the West Midlands (black ring 2HLJ).
Fairly standard Saturday morning, but there was a pair of Sparrowhawk displaying over the wood and c.300 Lapwings over the valley.
This morning with JFT, the Greylags had been in overnight again and I saw c.45-50 before they left, but as they were already leaving in small groups when I arrived I expect there were more. A flock of c.510 Lapwing flew over the reservoir and then back up to the UCV, where we later saw smaller groups up a few times. The Sparrowhawks were displaying again. There was a Gadwall and female Stonechat at the Borrow Pit and a Raven over. We had 4 Snipe and a Jack Snipe and Woodcock in their usual locations. Also a Redpoll again, briefly, along the river as we were leaving.
This evening Mike Pollard recorded an adult Yellow-legged Gull.
Thursday morning Mike Pollard saw several Siskins, including 2 males singing, and Adrian B had a female Peregrine over.
Saturday morning Kirsty had a female Stonechat up by the Borrow Pit pool and later I had 2 Gadwall at the reservoir.
This morning the Gadwall were still there and there was a single Teal in amongst the gulls in the middle of the mostly frozen reservoir. There was also 3 Egyptian Geese in the fields up the valley.
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| Siskin courtesy and copyright of Edwin Barson https://www.facebook.com/EBarsonphotography/ |
Monday morning Wally had a Wigeon at the reservoir and on Thursday Adrian T. saw c.1000 Lapwing and 25 Golden Plover over the UCV.
On Saturday Mike Pollard found an Egyptian Goose on the UCV floods, outside of/not viewed from the patch.
This morning there was very little of note at the reservoir or up the valley. I scanned for plovers and the goose but couldn't see any. A little later in the morning c.30 Lapwing did fly over south so there are still some around but possibly further north and quite a way from the patch area. I had several Snipe in the usual field and a Water Rail calling from the flooded reedy area near the river.
Happy New Year all and good birding!
The year started off pretty well with an adult Kittiwake present early on the 2nd. That is the first one we've had since 2019, at which point we'd had at least one for five years in a row! Some other good bits were seen on the 2nd too with Raven, Little Egret and Yellowhammer all being good early additions to the year list.
The Red-crested Pochard lingered up to Boxing Day, but there was also 3 reported on Christmas Day morning. Two Egyptian Geese flew through SE on Christmas Eve and 4 Wigeon were recorded on Christmas Day.
On the 29th Edwin had pair of Gadwall that stayed up to the end of the year, on the 30th John had a Chiffchaff along the river and 8 Lapwing over and today I had a Yellowhammer over.
So we end the year on 127 bird species recorded. A very good total and the highest I've known, only just shy of 128 recorded in 2018. We also had some other really good species recorded with Hairy Dragonfly, Small Red-eyed Damselfly and Willow Emerald all new for the site and another Otter sighting.
Thanks to everyone for the bird and other species records and of course the numerous photo contributions, it would be a pretty dull blog without them!
On Monday Adrian Tysoe had 18 Lapwing in the cattle field by the reservoir and 6 Pochard and a Teal on the reservoir. Tuesday Mike Pollard had 5 Pochard still and a big number of gulls including c.50 Common Gull and 10 Herring Gull. Wednesday Mike P also had 4 Pochard still and a pair Gadwall.
Friday afternoon I went up the valley but it was pretty quiet. There were 7 Little Grebes on the Borrow Pit pool in a small section that remained unfrozen and several Lapwing in the fields. A purely lucky sighting of an Otter as it swam upriver just at the moment I was looking at that section of river!
Saturday morning I was out at the reservoir and a Great White Egret flew over south. On the reservoir there were c.75 Greylag Geese and a drake Shoveler. I managed to find a Water Rail on the small flowing water channel between the water treatment works and the canal and later in the day Mike P had 2 Yellow-legged Gulls on the reservoir.
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| Duck and Gull photos courtesy and copyright of JFT |
Over the last few weeks it has settled into winter and generally quietened down, but there has been a few highlights and good birds.
On the 25th I had a Peregrine over the Upper Cherwell Valley. And on the 2nd John had a Shoveler, a Yellowhammer, 2 Wigeon and a Snipe at the reservoir. On the same day I had 108 Greylag Geese up the valley (a very good count locally) and a Yellow-legged Gull.
Saturday 3rd John and I had a good yomp around but most of the interesting birds were up the valley, with a Yellow-legged Gull, 3 Redpoll, 2 Jack Snipe, 15 Snipe and a Chiffchaff. Of note, John later had 3 Caspian Gulls just outside of the patch boundaries.
A Dunlin and redhead Goosander were at the reservoir on the 7th, with the Dunlin staying on to the next day. We've had the odd Chiffchaff around but on the 10th Kirsty had 3 and Edwin also had a Stonechat up the valley.
Out agian with John today and there was surprisingly little around. There's been a flock of up to c.30 Lapwings seen several times flying over and we had them twice again today. A 1st winter Caspian Gull and 2+ Yellow-legged Gulls were up at the Borrow Pit. John also picked out a ringed Black-headed Gull at the reservoir (white AF400) which seemed familiar and checking previous records it had been seen at the reservoir before, in November 2015!
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| Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT |
On Monday afternoon, Mike Pollard found our first Goldeneye since 2019 and also 7 Wigeon, a Teal and 8 Greylag Geese over. There was also 2 Wigeon on Tuesday.
This morning John was up early and had a bit of movement overhead, mostly thrushes but also a Snipe with 18 Lapwing, a Redpoll and a Siskin a few times. A little later Clive and I also had a Redpoll over. There was really good numbers of large gulls up the valley but settled in the fields and difficult to view.
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| Courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard |
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| Courtesy and copyright of JFT |
Yesterday evening John Huntbach had a Barn Owl hunting alongside the flood alleviation scheme in the Upper Cherwell Valley.
This morning amongst other things John and I had 3 Stonechats in the U.C.V. and 2 Peregrines over the Reservoir. Edwin also had a Chiffchaff at the reservoir and 20+ Lapwing over.
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| Photos courtesy and copyright of JFT |
A fairly quiet couple of weeks, with both John and I away for some of it. On Tuesday Sandra B had 28 Lapwings fly over the reservoir and a Yellow-legged Gull amongst the large gulls gathered in the cattle field.
Friday John had a good look around the patch and found our first Caspian Gull of the year up at the Borrow Pit pool as well as at least 4 Yellow-legged Gulls. He also had a Blackcap at the reservoir and 2 Stonechat, 3 Redpoll at the Borrow Pit and 10 Lapwing over.
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| All photos courtesy and copyright of JFT |
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| Polish ringed bird on the left and Dutch (?) ringed bird on the right |
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| Courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard |
