End of April Update

In years gone past the end of April update would be awash with all sorts of exciting bird news. In fact usually I do more frequent blog posts at this time of year, such is the volume of things to report. However, this has not been an issue at all this year. In fact this spring has been described by many as the worst for many years. The main culprit is the relentlessly good weather. While it might be good in terms of general enjoyment of life, as far as spring migrants are concerned, the weather is just too good. Birds are probably just passing straight through far too high up to be seen. The good weather also meant that the floods dried up far faster than they normally do. In fact they'd gone by mid April, only to get a reprieve when a bit of actual rain topped them up briefly. Not that it made any difference: I checked them out each morning after their ressurection but saw almost nothing, certainly no waders.

So, what is there actually to report about? The remaining warblers that we might reasonable expect all duly arrived with Whitethroats appearing on the 12th, Lesser Whitethroat on the 13th and Reed Warbler in the Trap Grounds on the 14th and Garden Warbler on the 15th. Common Tern was first seen on the 15th and the first Swifts were on the 20th. In terms of more interesting sightings, we had a couple of Redstarts in Burgess Field: a male on the 12th and a female type on the 20th. We also had a female Blue-headed Wagtail on the 20th as part of a very quiet spring for Yellow Wagtail.

The female Blue-headed Wagtail courtesy of Thomas Miller

We've had smatterings of waders with a few Oystercatchers along with one or two Little-ringed Plover and Redshank. More regular have been Shelduck with a couple seemingly making the floods their home and being seen every day until they dried up completely. Egyptian Geese have been seen regularly on the Meadow. They seem to prefer the river area and so are still around despite the lack of floods now.

The two Shelduck, keeping the faither when all other birds leave!

There are some sightings from up in the King's Lock area to report. A Hobby and a couple of Cuckoos were seen there and a Crossbill was seen to fly over towards Wytham. In terms of where exactly the Port Meadow patch boundaries are, it is rather a grey area and in lean times (which this year certainly is) I am much more disposed to include this area as part of the extended patch so these are going on the year list.

One of the regular Egyptian Geese

There was some interesting ringing news regarding the Peregrine that had been frequently the Meadow in early spring. Apparently this was ringed as a chick in St Alban's on the 27th April last year.

The ringed Peregrine courtesy of the ringers

The only warbler that we've yet to get is Sedge Warbler though this can usually be found along the river up towards King's Lock. With the floods dried up completely and no immediate prospect of rain there's not much to look forward to for the coming month. It might well be time to start looking at butterflies and odonata already.