Tuesday 3rd May

So here we are in May and I'm pleased to say that for the first time in three years the floods are still looking good for the start of this month. We're still very much in the optimal window for spring wader passage and we can now hope for things like Wood Sandpiper, Spoonbill and Temminck's Stint at the top of our wish list. 

As far as what we're actually seeing, at present we're continuing to get a nice mix of waders though the length of the grass along the currently-favoured west shore is making it increasingly hard to pick out the smaller waders. Top of the list is our GREENSHANK which has been with us for several days now. COMMON SANDPIPER numbers have swelled from our two that we've had for a few days all the way up to 6 today. Today was more a LITTLE RINGED PLOVER rather than a RINGED PLOVER day with 9 of the former and just 3 of the latter, accompanied today by 5 DUNLIN. Finally on the wader front, we're now down to just 3 OYSTERCATCHERS.

Other birds of note included: a YELLOW WAGTAIL, 2 WHITE WAGTAILS (it's been a good spring for this sub-species here on the Meadow), 3 SHELDUCK and a singing LESSER WHITETHROAT that was working its way along the river. I'll save the best till last but I heard a very distant calling CUCKOO this evening as well, coming from way over towards the Wytham area (but still very much countable on the patch year list).

Talking of the patch year list, I heard the first REED WARBLER chugging away from deep within the Trap Grounds reed bed this morning, so that's another tick as well. We still need to get Garden Warbler on the list and they should more or less be back now.

The Greenshank