April 12th-21st

Feeling rather static in mostly clear conditions over the last ten days. The standout sighting was a Whimbrel that pitched down briefly ahead of a rain shower - it was there for only 40 minutes before being flushed, which is a real problem with the floods being so small. There have been a trickle of other waders through (mostly Little Ringed Plovers), but wagtails are still at an all time low, with only a couple of single Yellow Wagtails recorded. I think this may be linked to the fact that the cattle herd are not on the main meadow this year, which is usually where the wagtails like to congregate. No Redstarts yet either despite a lot of looking in Burgess Field!

The first Common Tern arrived on 15th April and birds have been seen sporadically along the river since. Black-headed Gulls are now more obviously moving through (including a high proportion of immature birds) so everything crossed for something rarer amongst them.

Of interest has been the continued presence of up to three moulting Goosander along the river. It seems likely that they are set to summer here, as they did last year - hopefully they will breed again.

12/04/2026

Whimbrel briefly then flew north (year tick), Little Ringed Plover, 3 Oystercatcher, Yellow Wagtail, 2 Sand Martin, 30 House martin, 10 Swallow, Willow Warbler, 7 Shelduck, 2 Great White Egret

13/04/2026

4 Oystercatcher, Snipe, 4 Shelduck

14/04/2026

Little Ringed Plover, 3 Oystercatcher, Goosander (late record, possibly breeding), 5 Shelduck 

15/04/2026

Common Tern (year tick), 2 Oystercatcher, Yellow Wagtail, 3 Willow Warbler, 3 Goosander, 11 Shelduck, Great White Egret

16/04/2026

Little Ringed Plover, 3 Oystercatcher, 8 Shelduck, Great White Egret

17/04/2026

Common Tern, 2 Common Sandpiper (year tick), 3 Oystercatcher, 2 Goosander, 7 Shelduck

18/04/2026

Common Tern, Curlew, 3 Oystercatcher, 4 Shelduck

19/04/2026

Wheatear, Common Tern, 4 Shelduck

20/04/2026

3 Oystercatcher, Garden Warbler (year tick), 7 Shelduck

21/04/2026

Common Tern, Little Ringed Plover, 2 Oystercatcher, Yellow Wagtail, Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler, 7 Shelduck

Jay in Burgess Field

April 1st-11th

Mixed weather conditions with a period of high pressure before cloud, rain and southwesterlies set in this weekend. Migration happenings are still fairly uneventful - the lingering county Osprey was a nice record, as were a large flock of Black-tailed Godwits. The first Cuckoo of the year was a bizarre vismig record - a hepatic female flying high west over Burgess Field and circling with a Kestrel, which took us a good 30 seconds to work out its identity!

Other than that the first Whitethroats are in on Burgess, a few Willow Warblers are trickling through and House Martins are back attending the colony on Aristotle Lane.

Hopefully the floodwaters last until the end of the month! Not sure they will at this rate.

01/04/2026

Male Osprey over north (year tick), House Martin (year tick), 2 Little Ringed Plover, 4 Oystercatcher, 4 Shelduck

02/04/2026

Little Ringed Plover, 4 Oystercatcher, 2 Snipe, 6 Shelduck, Great White Egret

03/04/2026

Redshank, 6 Oystercatcher, 6 Shelduck

05/04/2026

29 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Oystercatcher, 6 Shelduck

06/04/2026

Yellow Wagtail (year tick), 10 Black-tailed Godwit, Little Ringed Plover, 4 Oystercatcher, 6 Shelduck, Great White Egret

07/04/2026

Little Ringed Plover, 2 Oystercatcher, Swallow, House Martin, 2 Shelduck, Great White Egret

08/04/2026

Little Ringed Plover, 3 Oystercatcher, 2 Swallow, 4 Shelduck, Great White Egret

09/04/2026

Whitethroat (year tick), Willow Warbler, 3 Oystercatcher, 10 Swallow, 6 Shelduck, Great White Egret

10/04/2026

Cuckoo over west (year tick), 6 Whitethroat (now properly in), 4 Willow Warbler, 4 Oystercatcher, 10 House Martin, 30 Swallow, 2 Shelduck, 2 Tufted Duck, Great White Egret

11/04/2026

4 Oystercatcher, 1 Sand Martin, 2 Willow Warbler, 10 Swallow, 8 House Martin, 5 Shelduck

January to March 2026

The Changing of the Guard 

The interval between posts on this blog has now got so long that this one is providing no less than a quarterly update. The truth is that the means of disseminating news has now switched to WhatsApp which is much more immediate and convenient. This, combined with the fatigue and ennui that inevitably comes with nearly 20 years of blog posts means that the prospect of doing a blog post here is now viewed more as a chore rather than the joy that it used to be. This is a real shame in one sense as 20 years of blog history is a great reference to look back on but I don't want to come to resent posting to this blog. Fortunately, a good solution is forthcoming with the younger and more enthusiastic Thomas Miller willing to take up the mantle. It's going to be in a different format which will largely be down to him but watch this space to see how things unfold. Part of the agreement of this hand-over was that I would write a final blog post covering the time up until the end of March. He will then move forward using his numerous eBird reports as a basis for much more frequent reporting. So here is that first quarter update.

By far the star bird of this quarter was the stunning find of a first winter Ring-billed Gull on Port Meadow on the 7th March. The finder was of course Thomas himself, who has single handedly been carrying the Port Meadow year list for a few years now. To put its rarity into context it's only the fourth ever for the county and only the second ever twitchable one. It's discovery is no more than Thomas deserved for the dedication that he shows in putting in so many hours on Port Meadow. It was found on a Saturday late afternoon, which gave enough time for those who were quick enough off the mark to twitch it that evening. The next morning it was around at first light briefly and then on and off throughout the morning before disappearing. Quite a few county birders connected and added it to their county list but quite a few didn't connect which somehow only adds to the mythical status of this spectacular find which remains as a gaping hole on many an Oxon county list.

1w Ring-billed Gull

January 

We had a Nuthatch on New Year's Day in Godstow Holt (the woods behind the Lock Keeper's Cottage up by Godstow Lock). We haven't had this species for several years now so it was nice to get it back on the year list. We also had a Siberian Chiffchaff by Burgess Field Gate (the usual location) though this proved to be a one-off sighting which is a far cry from past years when they've been fairly regular birds overwintering there. Port Meadow got in on the invasion of eastern Geese this year with a smattering of White-fronted Geese at various times. Sadly we never managed to bag the bigger prize of a Tundra Bean Goose. The Ross's Goose was around again - it's a feral bird but a real cutie! 

Probable Siberian Chiffcahff

Russian White-fronted Goose with Greylag Geese

Apart from that we had the usual winter fare with the occasional Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwit, a few Caspian Gulls and even a Mediterranean Gull. 

Mediterranean Gull

3w Caspian Gull

February

This started off well with some good gull action. An adult and 1w Little Gull were found on the swollen floods, with the latter hanging around on and off for quite a while. We also had several Mediterranean Gulls over the month. The star gull though was an adult Kittiwake. Picked out one evening on the extensive floods by Thomas, this star bird subsequently relocated to Farmoor where over the course of a few days it became ill. It was taken into care but sadly died.

Kittiwake in flight at dusk

Kittiwake on water north of Burgess Gate

1w Little Gull - found on same day as Kittiwake!

Shelduck and Oystercatchers started to appear on the floods and we had some good count of Pintail. It was a good month for Redpoll with birds being seen or heard fairly regularly. The Cetti's Warbler was still about in the Trap Grounds.

March

The Little Gull hung around into March and it was on the 7th that the Ring-billed Gull was found. There were a pair of Garganey which dropped in for one afternoon though sadly they didn't linger. Redshank made it onto the year list - this year we didn't have any overwintering birds like we used to. The first spring migrants started arriving with Little Ringed Plover and Sand Martins starting to appear. We also had the first Swallow and Willow Warbler of the year. A White Wagtail spent a couple of days in amongst the Pieds and a Wheatear was photographed on the Meadow. There were two Crossbills that flew over one morning and the Redpolls were still regular around the Aristotle Lane canal area.

The Little Gull was enjoyed by many

The 1w Ring-billed Gull against the Wytham treeline - probably the bird of the decade on the Meadow

It also showed briefly on the water at a reasonable distance

Crossbills - a rare patch visitor, these are the first to be photographed on Port Meadow to my knowledge

Great White Egret

Little Ringed Plover

So there you have it. It only remains for me to bid adieu to the loyal readers of this blog. I hope to be moving house sometime this year so I don't know how regularly I will be able to visit the Meadow. Still with Thomas at the helm I know that the patch and this blog are in more than capable hands.