I had originally intended to do an update at the end of each month but somehow things have slipped and I now find myself writing this at the end of August. It very much feels like summer is over now though we could well some nice weather at the start of September as we often tend to do. In any event, summer is traditionally a quiet one in terms of birds and there has not been much of note to report.
The flood pools lasted for a fair bit of June before drying up. During this time we managed a few straggler waders. In general it has been a very poor year for waders on the Meadow and our
year list is lacking in quite a few species that we would normally
expect to get. In this respect, it was nice to have some tail-end wader action though there were no new year ticks. The highlight was an unseasonal Avocet for one day on the 12th June. My guess is that it is a failed breeder from the Worcestershire colony which isn't too far away as the Avocet flies. Apart from that it was a smattering of Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, a single Curlew, up to 4 Great White Egret, a Redshank and 4 Oystercatchers.
The June Avocet
The Caspian Gull put in a few appearances and one evening we has a probable Baltic Gull that was spotted by Thomas Miller. Even though he is an expert at identifying this subspecies in the field, unfortunately due to the distance involved he wasn't able to 100% confirm the identify.
In July some heavy rain recreated the flood pools again for a few days, enough to encourage a family party of up to 5 Common Terns to linger by the water for a few days. We also had a Common Sandpiper along the river shoreline near the Perch. A Sedge Warbler (actually a year tick!) tried to set up territory near the bridge by Weir Cottage for a few days though it was very late in the season and it gave up soon enough. Our Little Owl family put in an appearance in July but there was no sign of any youngsters and they soon disappeared. Apart from that there were a few miscellaneious sightings of a Hobby and a Cuckoo. One evening there were a pair of calling Tawny Owls near Weir Cottage as well.
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| One of the adult Little Owls courtesy of Matthew Lloyd |
Summer is traditionally a time when we turn our thoughts to insects and flowers. Due to the rather rainy weather, it's been a poor year for Odonata. We did manage a single Downy Emerald record in the Trap Grounds along with a Hairy Dragonfly sighting. Given the county-wide influx of Lesser Emperors I had been hoping that one might put in an appearance at this site but unfortunately there were no reports. Nor were there any Small Red-eyed Damselflies this year - a great shame given that it's only been a couple of years that we've had them in the Trap Grounds. Hopefully they might recolonise again soon. Talking of colonists we still seem to have Willow Emeralds with a couple seen in recent days. A bit further afield (and probably strictly off-patch) there are some rarer Variable Damselflies up at Duke's Lock along the canal just north of Wolvercote. In fact there was a "probable" recorded in a Wolvercote garden as well.
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| A Willow Emerald along the canal near the Trap Grounds |
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| Variable Damselfly, Duke's Lock Pond |
Talking of insects, Steve Siantonas reported on some Glow Worm sightings in Burgess Field in early July.
"I went on my first glow worm search yesterday evening Monday 8 July on Burgess Field. I was there from about 10 pm and despite the drizzly rain I found 10 glow worms. They were by the central path near the North gate and in the field to the left of the path as you walk towards the gate. This is the same general area that I have seen glow worms in the last 2 years. I expect there are glow worms elsewhere in Burgess Field but I have not looked thoroughly in those areas. "
On the orchid front it wasn't too bad with 14 Pyramidal Orchids and 5 Bee Orchids found within Burgess Field. Back in the day I remember getting the former in the Trap Grounds though those days are long gone now.
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| Burgess Field orchids, Pyramidal above and Bee below |
One other exciting report was an Otter in the flooded ditch along the southern end of the allotment hedge as you enter the Meadow from Aristotle Lane. Unfortunately it didn't linger. One was seen there briefly the previous year as well, no doubt hunting for trapped fish.
So as we move into autumn proper and with no floods to speak of, the main focus of attention is going to be passerine migrants with Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher probably the main targets. I guess that we might get one or two Common Sandpipers along the river but until the flood waters reform (usually October or November depending on the weather) it will probably be rather quiet on the patch.
