So that's September finished and now that we've passed the equinox we're officially into Autumn and the nights are drawing in. There's still no flood water on the Meadow though after the recent rain there were at least a few small puddles for a few days. On the birding front there's been little of note and the most exciting event was on the 18th when I came across a very large flock of YELLOW WAGTAILS - there were at least 35 of them and it could well have been as high as 50. They were all in amongst the cattle which, unusually, were right down at the southern end. Despite carefully sifting through them all I couldn't find anything unusual in amongst them but this is definitely a record count for the Meadow at least for as long as I've been birding it.
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| Just one of the big flock of Yellow Wagtails |
Apart from that the most interest as far as birding is concerned is
finding the roving mixed tit flocks. It's always exciting trying to pick
out the different species from these fast moving groups and there are
usually Goldcrests, Treecreepers and Chiffchaffs to be found in amongst
them. I do live in hope of a rarer Phyllosc (that's birder talk for
Phylloscopus, the leaf warbler group) one of these days. You never know!
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| The Long-tailed Tits usually seem to form the core of any roving tit flock |
On the insect front we're at the end of the dragonfly season now though
there have been plenty of Migrant Hawkers around and there are still
some red Darters to be seen.
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| A recent Migrant Hawker |
Steve Goddard has been mothing away up in Wolvercote and in the last couple of weeks he caught the much sought after (and wonderfully named) Merveille du Jour which I went to pay homage to.
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| The aptly named Merveille du Jour moth |
There's not much to report on the flower front either but I've been doing some more rummaging around and have managed to find some more Creeping Marshwort tucked away in various places.
