Things are starting to pick up a little on the Patch though at present in dribs and drabs and it very much depends on what time of day you visit as to what you get to see. First thing this morning Ewan Urquhart found an adult LITTLE GULL on the floods as well as five LITTLE EGRETS. Later in the morning an adult Little Gull was reported at Farmoor and there was no further sign on the floods so it probably hopped over the hill. Late afternoon when I went to visit, 14 BLACK-TAILED GODWITS dropped in and a COMMON SANDPIPER was working its way around the shoreline. Steve Lavington made a late evening visit at 8pm when he managed to find a WHIMBREL as well as a LITTLE RINGED PLOVER. Birds are certainly on the move though not really staying for long.
In Burgess Field the usual warblers were reported, including one or two LESSER WHITETHROATS as well as a few SEDGE WARBLERS and REED WARBLERS, the latter presumably just passing through. Ewan also had a RAVEN fly-over and there were three SWIFTS flying around over the Trap Grounds late afternoon as well.
So three new Patch year ticks in the form of the Little Gull, Whimbrel and Swift. We really are having a great season so far and are even managing to keep pace with the Otmoor year list total so far which is a real achievement though I'm not expecting this to last. I'm now cautiously starting to think of a quite big end of year total (for Port Meadow) of at least 140.
Moth news: I managed to get a Streamer in my trap overnight as well as a hard to identify micro which I'm still working on. Both these may be first for the year in the recording area (depending on whether anyone else has caught any since the last update).
The Streamer is a lovely looking moth
Well Done! Gnome, A really super moth.
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