End of Summer Update

It's been a sad testimony to the relatively poor year that we've been having that this is the first blog update since April. We've had some extremely good years recently on the Patch so we can't really complain when the weather gods see fit to give us a hot dry spring and summer with knock-on effects for the birding. I also think that we have got "greedy" in terms of what to expect, given the superb birds that have been found recently and this is actually just back to more normal fare.

Anyway, let's get down to bird sightings. In May with the Meadow completely dry it was left to Burgess Field to provide the interest. We had a Cuckoo there and a Sedge Warbler and a couple of fly-over Ring-necked Parakeets. 

Burgess Field Sedge Warbler in the hand courtesy of Thomas Miller

June brought in a patch Mega in the form of a fly-over Crossbill, part of the national influx this summer that has seen lots of sightings in the county. On the river there was breeding evidence with a female Goosander with three chicks on the river.

July brought two more Crossbill and a great total of 9 Common Sandpiper along the river bank. The Goosander family was still around as well. Sadly there was no sign of the Little Owls this year.

August is the start of the birding autumn and the Meadow's bird records certainly reflected that. The highlight was a series of Tree Pipit records including an amazing record of one caught in the ringing nets on Burgess Field. With three other fly-over records, it's been an amazing autumn for them on the Patch.

 

A Tree Pipit in the hand on Burgess Field, courtesy of Thomas Miller

Yellow Wagtails in amongst the livestock is always a highlight this months and numbers have been building up to steadily to a total of about 40. 

 

Yellow Wagtail courtesy of Thomas Miller

We managed a tiny bit of wader action with a brief Greenshank along the river along with a Common Sandpiper and a Snipe. Sadly, in the absence of floods, this is the only bit of habitat that might attract waders. In the King's Lock area there were 8 Cattle Egret seen, probably dispersing birds after breeding at Blenheim and there have been a few fly-over records on the Patch proper in recent days as well. 

In Burgess Field a Marsh Tit was seen. This great Patch record was probably a dispersing bird from Wytham Woods. A Sedge Warbler was trapped and ringed in Burgess Field as well.

The Burgess Field Marsh Tit courtesy of Thomas Miller

In terms of non-bird interest there has been the usual stuff - always nice to see of course. Some Glow Worms were to be seen along the canal up towards the Wolvercote end, near the Plough Pub. On the Odonata front, coverage of the Trap Grounds has been relatively poor this year though Willow Emeralds were found on the main pond this month which was nice to have confirmed. Up at Duke's Lock the Variable Damselfly colony is still going well with up to 8 recorded along with a couple of Downy Emeralds. The usual Hairy, Southern and Migrant Hawkers have been seen in the usual places as we.

 

Variable Damselfly at Duke's Lock

 

On the orchid front, the Pyramidal Orchids were still there in the usual places though no Bee Orchids were seen this year. 

 

A Burgess Field Pyramidal Orchid, just coming into bloom

 

So looking ahead, we are now into peak autuman passerine passage and with some relatively common stuff still missing from the year list there is plenty to look for. It's always a bit random as to when the floods will return. It very much depends on the rain and with the ground so dry it might take more rain than usual to establish them. We shall see.