Review of 2017

It's time for the review of the past year on the Meadow. By all measures it's been a lean one on the birding front, thanks to the unusually dry conditions for both spring and autumn. The floods had to all intents and purposes dried up by early April and didn't reform at all until November and indeed weren't back to a reasonable size until right at the end of December. This paucity of flood water took its toll on the year list which came in at a measly 114, well below the 120 figure that we can expect on an average year and 130 on a good one. A telling statistic was just how few blog posts I made in the year with a mere 36 compared to between 60 and 80 over the previous three years. Indeed during the autumn months I was only managing one post per month so little was there to blog about. That is the nature of birding on the Meadow unfortunately - it is ultra-sensitive to the amount of water that is about.

So down to the actual review. January started off OK with good flood waters and some reasonable gull action. Indeed we managed both Caspian and Iceland Gulls this month along with a Red-crested Pochard, quite a Patch rarity.

The 3rd winter Caspian Gull

There was little of note in February apart from the usual over-wintering birds. Come March and the early migrants start to make things interesting again and we had our first Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers as well as a few spring waders and a smart adult Mediterranean Gull

The first Ringed and Little Ringed Plvoers (c) Nicola Devine

April is when we get the warblers back and they did indeed arrive this month though the fact that the floods dried up at the start of the month meant that we missed out on what is normally the best birding month of the year as the spring waders pass through in their greatest numbers.

It was nice to have the Swallws back again

In May, with no flood water at all it was left to an exciting dragonfly sighting to provide the interest when a rare Club-tailed Dragonfly spent a couple of days in the Trap Grounds.

Club-tailed Dragonfly

The summer months were very quiet and I passed my time re-acquainting myself with some of the rarer plants in the locality. A returning Redstart was the only noteworthy record on the birding front.

Birthwort up by Godstow nunnery

Creeping Marshwort

There was still no water in September but in the flock of Yellow Wagtail that are often to be found in amongst the cattle on the Meadow in this month I winkled out female Blue-headed Wagtail (the continental sub-species of Yellow Wagtail).

Blue-headed Wagtail

Come November and we started to get some embryonic flood waters back, and with them came the first few waders and gulls. However, the highlight of the month was a brief sighting of a Great White Egret up at Wolvercote for a few minutes. Whilst this is not the national rarity it once was and indeed they are in the process of colonising this country in the same way that Little Egrets did, nevertheless it's still a great sighting for the Meadow which doesn't have the right sort of habitat to attract this species.

This is not the actual bird but one I photographed in Dorset

Finally in December the snow tipped the balance with the flood waters and some long-overdue rain pushed them back to full size. With the waters came the geese, ducks and gulls again and the birding desert was once more transformed into an oasis of bird activity.

So, the Port Meadow Bird of the Year title has to go to the Great White Egret really as there was nothing else at all close to it in terms of rarity. I'm always a bit reluctant to give this award to a bird that was seen by a single observer (especially since it wasn't me!) but apart from the Blue-headed Wagtail there was little else of note this year.

Looking forward, we're at least starting the year with decent sized flood waters but it will all be down to what happens in the spring and autumn once again. Sadly, with global warming it's possible that years like this will become more of the norm. Let's hope note!