Sunday 21st April

Well, inevitably it had to come to an end. Saturday's weather was just so perfect that all the migrants are passing straight through without bothering to stop and all the ones that were currently enjoying the delights of the Patch have decided to take advantage of it and move on. There's been precious little to report and even the floods are now almost deserted. 14 BLACK-TAILD GODWITS dropped in briefly around midday on Saturday and a single LITTLE RINGED PLOVER was also seen but apart from that there's just a few Teal, the two SHELDUCKS still and a steady movement of YELLOW WAGTAILS moving through (on Sunday I counted 14). Liam Langley did manage to find a male REDSTART in the south east corner on Saturday morning though none were to be seen on Sunday. The Whitethroats and Willow Warblers are now starting to sort out their territories in Burgess Field and the Sedge and Garden Warblers should be with us fairly soon now as well as Reed Warblers in the Trap Grounds. We're fast approaching the peak time of the spring passage, being the end of April through to the start of May where we can look forward to Wood Sandpipers and with any luck something a bit rarer.

On the moth front I'm plugging away though in my garden I do tend to struggle with variety as well as numbers. At present I'm just getting Early Greys with the odd Clouded Drab and Hebrew Character. Steve Goddard has been faring better up in Wolvercote and recently had this lovely Oak Beauty in his trap.

Oak Beauty (c) Steve Goddard