Thursday 8th March

So it's been a couple of weeks since the last post and we've had the "Beast from the East" come and go. I didn't bother going out that much during it but Martin Gebauer (a hardy Canadian who laughs in the face of cold!) did and reported lots of Fieldfares around as well as another sighting of the over-wintering STONECHAT in the allotment hedge. 

After the thaw I was out again and it's pretty much the usual birds that one might expect. Duck numbers are noticeably starting to dwindle now and we're starting to get out spring accumulation of SHELDUCK with a peak count of 8 birds this week. We also have the first couple of DUNLIN for the year and we still have excellent numbers of Lapwing though just modest Golden Plover counts. The highlight of the week though was our first MEDITERRANEAN GULL of the year, found in the roost this evening by Thomas Miller. March is the classic month for the Oxon spring passage for this species which is pretty much annually recorded here. However, we rarely get more than one record a year so I'm very pleased to have it on the list.

The Med Gull asleep in the roost, courtesy of Thomas Miller

One interesting thing that I need to mention is that a couple of people have mentioned a possible Barn Own sighting in Burgess Field over the last few weeks. Nothing definite as yet but do keep a look out if you're there around dusk as we've not had one on the list for a few years now.

So what can we expect over the next few weeks? Well, depending on the weather we might start to get some early spring migrants coming through with Sand Martins the first thing to expect along with singing Chiffchaffs and possibly Little Ringed and Ringed Plovers. It's still very early and it doesn't really all kick off until next month but you never know.