Thursday 23rd August

We're continuing with the theme of more or less same waders which all seem very settled. In fact the Greenshank have now been with us since the 2nd August so that's a real testament to the habitat quality the Meadow floods offer. New in yesterday were a couple of RUFF and a GREEN SANDPIPER and a few more RINGED PLOVER which brings the total up to 12 now along with the 3 LITTLE RINGED PLOVER still. The 7 BLACK-TAILED GODWITS are still about and yesterday there was a 4th GREENSHANK briefly (per Roger Wyatt). The two REDSHANK are still around as well as the 6 remaining COMMON SANDPIPER and yesterday Roger Wyatt reported a HOBBY over the Meadow as well.

The two Ruff (c) Roger Wyatt

The previous day I went for a run around the patch. In the Trap Grounds there were quite a few dragonflies about with a Southern Darter, a Brown Hawker and a couple of male Ruddy Darters all seen. Burgess Field held remarkably few butterflies though I did spot a Small Heath and a Common Blue as well as a female Ruddy Darter and another Southern Hawker.

The Burgess Field Southern Hawker

The other exciting news was the discovery of a Great White Egret at Farmoor which then relocated to Cassington GP. I checked on the map to see if this flight path would have involved going over Port Meadow air space but unfortunately it doesn't. I'm not sure about the ethics of ticking it had it done so anyway but we'll leave that moral can of worms for another time.

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