At last the first spring migrants have been spotted on the Meadow! A couple of days ago Steve Goddard had the first SWALLOW of the year hawking over the river and today I saw four SAND MARTINS over the river opposite the sailing club. A Chiffchaff has been singing in the Trap Grounds for a while now and I heard my first Blackcap singing in my garden yesterday. The first Brimstone butterflies are on the wing and I saw my first Small Tortoiseshell the other day as well. Now that we're into April we can start looking out for all the other spring migrants - it's a very exciting time of year!
Talking of the river, the recent prolonged rain has pushed it firmly into Lake Mode. In fact it's so full that there is hardly any strip of land between the river itself and the swollen floods. This does actually make viewing rather difficult as all the birds are presently half way up to Wolvercote along the north shoreline. All this does mean that at least we're likely to have some decent flood waters remaining for the key second half of the month which is the peak spring wader passage in the county.
In other news the BARN OWL is still being seen and indeed Mary MacDougall saw a pair of them in Burgess Field this evening! The best time seems to be from 7:30 pm onwards if you want to go to see it/them.
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| A Grey Heron along the Castle Mill Stream |
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