Monday 7th April

I wasn't able to get out to the Meadow over the weekend so after such a good visit on Friday, by today I was champing at the bit to see what about. Sadly there was no sign of the Garganey though the two LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS were still there along the north shore of the North Channel. Fresh in though was a flock of five RINGED PLOVER along the south shore of the Channel. There was also a single BLACK-TAILED GODWIT and the OYSTERCATCHER count had gone up to seven birds. As far as water flow were concerned SHELDUCK numbers had reduced to just seven though the WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was still there. As is my custom for lingering lone ducks and geese, it is probably due a name so I shall christen it "Winifred". There were at least half a dozen Swallows about and there was even one perched on the "Swallow Tree" (the small Hawthorn at the end of the boat moorings).

Some rather shaky video of two of the five Ringed Plovers

Friday 4th April: Garganey & Wheatear

What a difference a day makes. Today was a full-on spring day with lots of different species fresh in to keep one occupied. By contrast the previous two days have been rather "samey" with the usual OYSETERCATCHERS and SHELDUCK the only birds of note. I even thought that the WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE had disappeared as I couldn't see it yesterday afternoon. However, on today's visit it was back in amongst the Greylags.

The star of today's visit was a handsome drake GARGANEY looking very much at home half way along the West Shore. The Meadow does look perfect for this species at present so I've been carefully looking out for these gorgeous ducks. I also finally managed to find a couple of LITTLE RINGED PLOVER along the North Shore. I can only think that it has been too boggy for them until now but the shoreline is starting to dry out a little now. I also finally found a PHEASANT (a very much overdue year tick) in the Hinterland. Two SWALLOWS worked their way north while I was there, a flock of 10 Golden Plover flew over and a WILLOW WARBLER was singing along the Castle Mill stream this morning as well. To cap it all a lovely WHEATEAR was working its way about the hillocks to the south of the floods. We get this species every year but only a handful of sightings so I'm always pleased to see one.

Today's splendid drake Garganey

So it's all kicking off at last. We should start getting the other warblers in over the next few weeks as well as Yellow and White Wagtails and with any luck finally get a bit more variety on the wader front. I can't wait!

Tuesday 2nd April: Spring Migrants, A Little Gull & A White-fronted Goose

At last I have some definite spring migrant news to report. This morning when I was going for a brisk walk along the canal to loosen up before a day ahead sitting at my desk I heard my first WILLOW WARBLER of the year singing, appropriately enough, in a Willow Tree. Keeping it company were a total of five LESSER REDPOLL that I've been hearing for the last week or so in the same spot.

Later on this afternoon I went to check out the floods which are being kept nicely topped up by the intermittent rain. The 13 SHELDUCK are still around and another birder also reported the CAPE SHELDUCK as still being around as well. The usual 5 OYSTERCATCHERS were the only waders present and I've still personally yet to see a Little Ringed Plover on the floods this year. At least my Hirundine blank was finally broken when I spotted two SAND MARTINS and a SWALLOW hawking over the floods. It really does warm ones cockles to see them back again.

What was probably the highlight of the visit was when in amongst the Greylag Geese I noticed a WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. It clearly wasn't one of the usual mongrel group of five birds that hang out here from time to time and certainly seemed to be a pure White-front. It looked like a 1w/1s bird with a full white blaze around the beak but only reduced black markings on the belly. A rampaging dog that was chasing every bird on the floods (why do dog owners allow their pets to do this?) put it up along with the rest of the flock which flew to the river where I finally managed to get some video footage of it.

It's always difficult to tell the provenance of single geese but it's here at the right time of the year, it seemed wary to me and it's a young one (which are more inclined to get lost) so as long as it doesn't hang around for an indecent length of time I'm tempted to count it on the year list.

Addendum

In my goosey excitement I forgot to mention the lovely LITTLE GULL that was found earlier today on the Meadow by Dave Daniels and photographed by Roger Wyatt. They are always gorgeous little things to see gracing the Meadow floods in the spring.

Photo (c) Roger Wyatt

Friday 28th March: Iceland Gull Again

It's been a rather "samey" few days on the Meadow with the usual birds in the usual places. Granted the floods are looking great and the recent top-up from the rain has ensured that they're not going stale and there are still plenty of birds to look at but there's not really been anything "different" this week. SHELDUCK numbers have been fluctuating in the mid teens before hitting a new peak of 17 birds today (a new record I believe) with the CAPE SHELDUCK still hanging around to add a touch of the exotic. OYSTERCATCHERS numbers have varied between 3 and 6 birds, clearly enjoying the soft muddy margins of the floods. There have even been been some Golden Plover with an impressive flock of 200 on Thursday though just 2 birds on Friday. The GOOSANDER have been around occasionally with 3 red-heads present on Thursday. There have even been some gulls about though this time of year the remaining stragglers are starting to look very strange. All the prime good looking gulls have paired up by now leaving the dregs of the larid world to loaf about and bemoan their failure to find a mate. There have been a couple of birds with paler, light-fringed primaries though that's been about all they had going for them on the Kumlien's/Thayer's scale. Interestingly the (or a) juvenile ICELAND GULL was reported again today (Friday) at 11:30 am on RBA though unsurprisingly there was no sign of it when I visited later on in the day.

One of many of the Shelduck that are currently in residence on the floods (c) Roger Wyatt

All in all a good selection of birds though you'll notice that they're all "winter birds" and there is still a definite lack of spring migrants. In fact, apart from Roger Wyatt's LRP sighting on Monday there's not been so much as a sniff of one. Now that we're back to the warm proper spring weather I am definitely expecting that to change over the coming days - fingers crossed!

Monday 24th March: Little Ringed Plovers!

Finally we have our first spring migrants! Roger Wyatt found a couple of LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS on the Meadow today though sadly they'd gone by the time I visited later in the afternoon (unless I managed to overlook them). Over the last couple of days the SHELDUCK count has continued to climb, peaking at an amazing 16 birds on Sunday before dropping back to 13 today. OYSTERCATCHER numbers have been steady at 3 or 4 birds and there have been up to five REDSHANK about as well. Whereas the rest of the duck species are declining in numbers, Gadwall are noticeably more numerous with at least 20 birds today.

The Jericho RED KITE has been hanging around a lot recently on the Meadow and has even been on the ground on the Railway Field a couple of times. The only other point of interest was a CAPE SHELDUCK in amongst the other Shelduck. Certainly an escape from somewhere, the Meadow seems to attract more than its fair share of plastic waterfowl.

The (plastic) Cape Shelduck, adding a splash of the exotic to the Meadow

Saturday 22nd March: Two Iceland Gulls!

I made two trips to the Meadow today. Mid afternoon I went looking for spring migrants. Whilst the rest of the county is enjoying lots of spring migrant action such as 100+ Sand Martins at Farmoor, the first Little Ringed Plovers at Otmoors and Wheatears everywhere, there was not so much as a sniff of anything on the Meadow. In fact it was more or less the same birds as yesterday with now just 3 OYSTERCATCHERS and no sign of the Godwit though the SHELDUCK count had increased even more to an amazing 11 birds, surely a Meadow record. The two GOOSANDER were still about as were a pair of PINTAIL and noticeably more Gadwall with at least 10 birds.  

My second trip was when I decided to make a late visit this evening to see if I could catch up with Steve Goddard's Iceland Gull from yesterday. Fortunately I was well rewarded for this effort in the form of not just one but two ICELAND GULLS. The 2nd winter bird that was seen at Farmoor this week and which Steve saw yesterday was there but there was also a first winter bird present as well. It's not often that you get to see two Artic gulls standing right next to each other in the county - very pleasing! Unfortunately I had problems with my camera so only managed to get some shots of the 1st winter bird.

It was practically dark by the time I found the two Iceland Gulls and after my camera problems all I could manage was some rather dodgy video footage from which I've taken this grab.

...and here's the footage from which it was taken

Friday 21st March: Iceland Gull

We've finally made it to the spring equinox and the first official day of spring though so far we've not had any proper spring migrants. Meanwhile our existing species have been growing in numbers: OYSTERCATCHERS are now up to six birds and the SHELDUCK count is up to an amazing ten. Keeping them company is the BLACK-TAILED GODWIT which has been with us for several days now - I imagine that it's not in any hurry given that the arctic tundra is probably still under ice. Apart from that there have been a few PINTAIL still and the last GOOSANDER pair have been hanging around still. 

Whilst we've not yet had any proper spring migrants there have been several singing Chiffchaff and Blackcap around the area over the last few days. However I've had a couple of late season winter birds in the garden of late: I was fortunately enough to have a lovely male LESSER REDPOLL briefly, complete with a lovely rosy pink flush to his breast and there has also been a singing male Siskin in my garden twice this week.

The highlight of the last few days was today when Steve Goddard came across what sounds like the ICELAND GULL that was seen at Farmoor earlier this week. It was present from 5:45 until 6:15 pm at least today. 

An amazing ten Shelduck are gracing the floods at present

Tuesday 18th March

The floods are now more or less back to their usual size though nice and full and looking great. The waders seem to be appreciating them as well as suddenly we've started to get some records again. Over the last few days there have been regular OYSTERCATCHER sightings with four birds (two pairs) about this evening. A single BLACK-TAILED GODWIT also put in an appearance today and there were a pair of REDSHANK about yesterday evening. 

Black-tailed Godwit

Duck numbers have gone right down now with far fewer Wigeon and Teal and just a handful of Shoveler, a few Gadwall, a pair of GOOSANDER and sometimes a few PINTAIL still about. SHELDUCK numbers by contrast have been steadily increasing with an amazing 8 birds (four pairs by the look of it) about this evening, certainly a great count for the Meadow. 

Sadly the gull roost seems to have petered out almost entirely though I'm no longer able to stay until last light to be certain.

Amazingly, we've not had any migrants to report so far - I would have thought that a Sand Martin or Little Ringed Plover would have been with us by now. It should be any day now I reckon.

One other record of note is that Liam Langley had a RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE fly over his head towards the Trap Ground allotments on Thursday. This species is slightly less than annual so it's good to get it on the year list.

Now that spring is here the moth trapping season is starting to get under way. I put out my trap for the first time last night and was rewarded with the princely total of four moths: two Hebrew Characters, one Clouded Drab and a Brindled Pug. Steve Goddard up in Wolvercote by contrast has already been catching some good stuff. You can follow his catches either on the Upper Thames Moth blog or the Garden Moth Challenge blog.

Pug's are a nightmare to ID but I think that I'm right in saying that this is a Brindled

Monday 10th March

What a difference a few days make! Last week we were still firmly stuck in "lake mode" with floods stretching all the way up past the north end of Burgess Field NR; in order to view the birds one had to slog all the way over to the Poplar trees north of the Perch. Then suddenly on Thursday it was as if a switch had been thrown and large areas of grass were revealed, to be picked over eagerly by the hoards of Black-headed Gulls. This receding of the floods has continued each day so that today on my visit, for the first time this year the best viewing point was on the east side again, by the Burgess Field gate.

Hoards of Black-headed Gulls on the freshly exposed grass

Over the last few days there hasn't been anything of particular note. A few YELLOW-LEGGED GULLS were the highlights on the gull front. Whilst there are still good numbers of gulls about, the vast majority are Black-headed Gulls and it's becoming apparent that the gull season is starting to wind down though we could well score a few more Med. Gulls before it's over.

This adult Yellow-legged Gull only seems to have one leg

On the duck front a single SHELDUCK was around on Thursday and there have been a few GOOSANDER still each evening. The PINTAIL have been about more regularly but that's been about it.

Today we had the first decent bit of wader news for a while in the form of the first BLACK-TAILED GODWIT of the year, accompanied by an OYSTERCATCHER. It's amazing to think that it's March already and we still don't have Dunlin on the year list. Now that the floods are more or less back to normal I would expect to get quite a few more wader sightings over the coming weeks now.

A record shot of the Black-tailed Godwit

As if to emphasise the imminent arrival of spring I heard the first singing Chiffchaff of the year in my garden this morning.

Wednesday 5th March: Caspian Gull & Mediterranean Gull

It's been a fairly productive few days on the Meadow since my last posting. The weather has been improving and we seem to be through the rainy season now though the floods are still rather full. The improving weather has meant that the gull roost hasn't always been very numerous though there's usually been plenty of birds to look through. The MEDITERRANEAN GULL spring passage is well underway now in the county with Farmoor scoring good counts of several birds quite often. Not to be outdone, the Meadow has turned up another one itself in the form of a smart summer plumaged adult that was picked out by Liam Langley from the throng of Black-headed Gulls though it disappeared before I could get any photos. The Common Gull spring passage is also underway and I keep looking out for a Ring-billed Gull in amongst them though so far no luck.

This evening there were very few gulls though what it's lacked in quantity it seems to be making up for in quality in the form of a lovely, heavily marked 1st winter CASPIAN GULL that was reasonably close in (by current Meadow standards at least). Ian Lewington said that he saw the same bird at Appleford on the 10th of last month though it's not been reported since then.

1 winter Caspian Gull

Apart from the gulls the 6 REDSHANK were around at the start of the week though they've not been seen for the last couple of evenings. The two SHELDUCK are usually around and yesterday there were 21 PINTAIL though they'd gone this evening. A few GOOSANDER are still loitering as well.

With spring now knocking on the door we should start getting the first arrivals shortly - Sand Martins are usually the first to arrive followed by the Little Ringed Plovers though given the present extended state of the floods I'm not sure how easy it's going to be actually to spot them: they'll be so far away!

Friday 28th February: Little Gull & Caspian Gull

There's been a definite feel of things picking up finally this week. The floods have started to recede and by mid week were down sharply enough for a thin strip of land to be exposed along the eastern edge of the river - one of my favourite Meadow configurations as regular readers will know. I even managed a visit every evening apart from Wednesday when fortunately Liam Langley provided cover.

There are hoards of Black-headed Gulls about now, pouring over the newly exposed grass for worms etc. In amongst them are noticeably more Common Gulls as their spring passage starts to kick off. Numbers of large gulls by contrast are still relatively low though do seem to be picking up a bit. The five REDSHANK have been around most of the week and on Wednesday Liam managed to find the first OYSTERCATCHER of the year for the Patch. A smattering of GOOSANDER have been around each evening though only in small numbers of late. The PINTAIL are finally back with 8 or so birds about on Thursday and there was a count of 11 Gadwall earlier on in the week. The two SHELDUCK have been around for the latter part of the week.

The highlight of the week was today when first I picked out a very smart adult winter plumaged LITTLE GULL. Unfortunately it didn't stay settled long enough for me to get any photos before it got swept up in the maelstrom of restless gulls. There were quite a few YELLOW-LEGGED GULLS about, mostly 2nd winter birds - it's good to have some of those back after a lean period of late. Finally at last light I picked out what looked promising for a 3rd winter CASPIAN GULL - not an age that I'm familiar with for this species. I busied myself with taking photos and thanks to Ian Lewington the ID was eventually confirmed.

A video grab of the 3rd winter Caspian Gull ...

...and a crucial wing-flap shot that clinched the ID...

...and some video as well.

Sunday 23rd February

I've been away this week so haven't actually visited the Meadow at all myself. Fortunately the baton has been taken up by other birders with the headline sighting being a KITTIWAKE that was found by Dave Doherty on Wednesday morning. This is a species that I've yet to see on the Meadow though Dave turned up a couple last year and Alex Martin saw one as well. They tend to be found in the morning on the Meadow rather than being in the evening roost which is why I usually miss them. In fact what was probably the same bird was seen at Farmoor in the roost on Wednesday evening.

Not to be out-done Peter Law visited the same day and turned up a female RED-CRESTED POCHARD. This is another fairly scarce species though we get them occasionally on the floods where they have been known to stay for some time.

Liam Langley reported a couple of Buzzards over by the Perch on Saturday morning - it's about time we got this species on the year list! Finally, I saw my first Patch Sparrowhawk of the year flying over Aristotle Lane by the playground on Sunday afternoon.

By way of homage to Dave's Kittiwake, here's one that I saw whilst down in Cornwall this week.

Sunday 16th February

Another stormy week has past and the floods are still pretty full though they do seem to be slightly receding over the last few days. There's not been much different to report: the two SHELDUCK have still been about as have about 10 GOOSANDER and I'm pleased to report that all 5 REDSHANK were back on their favourite roost tree this week as well. The WATER RAIL was still squealing away in the Trap Grounds and mid week I managed to find four Siskins, a Goldcrest and a Treecreeper along the canal nearby.

Because of the floods photographic opportunities have been few and far between so I took advantage of the sunshine today to snap some of the Pied Wagtails that were feeding in amongst the horses.

Sunday 9th February

Well, another week has gone by and the floods still show no sign of receding. In fact they're now way past the end of Burgess Field any may well be lapping at the edges of Wolvercote. To be honest I've only been out twice this week - it's just such hard work when the floods are like that and the rewards have been pretty scant of late. I was supposed to be leading a guided walk around the Meadow on Saturday for the Abingdon Naturalists though in the end it was cancelled due to the the state of the floods and the forecast latest in a long line of storms.

As fas as what's around at present the two SHELDUCK are still about, though the REDSHANK seem finally to have been pushed off their regular roosting tree which is now underwater. GOOSANDER are also a regular feature on the floods and there are plenty of duck around, mostly Wigeon though strangely the Pintail seem to have moved on. The gull roost continues to disappoint both with the poor numbers and the distant views.  A KINGFISHER was loitering along the bank on Friday, peering intently into the shallow water right by the bank. I expect that it's really struggling in current conditions to find any fishable water. Two STOCK DOVES were in their regular tree just north of the Perch on Wednesday and a PEREGRINE gave nice fly-by views as it put up the gull roost though didn't seem to make much of an effort with any of the birds. Finally, Liam Langley reported the WATER RAIL still squealing away in the Trap Grounds on Saturday as well as a SNIPE in Burgess Field.

Struggling Kingfisher

I've not had any luck with hearing any Little Owls so far this year despite keeping an ear out for them up past the Perch. In terms of what we still need for the year list there's still Pheasant and Buzzard to get though the former has probably been pushed off further afield by the floods and the latter often doesn't get seen until things start to warm up a little

Sunday 2nd February

We're now into the start of February and to be honest it's been a rather unremarkable first month. Not that one normally expects much on the Meadow at this time of year but the prolonged floods are making the birding rather difficult and the gull roost remains disappointingly small. 

In terms of specifics, it's been more of the same this week with the 5 REDSHANK still roosting in their regular tree, around 10 or so GOOSANDER coming into roost each evening and a smattering of gulls with the occasional YELLOW-LEGGED GULL the only species of note. There are still loads of duck with double digit counts of PINTAIL as well as a few Gadwall, The highlight of the week was a lone SHELDUCK on the floods on Wednesday.

By way of a bit of a change today, this morning in the sunshine I went for a walk along the canal north to Wolvercote and back. En route I managed to add to my personal Patch year list the following species: Bullfinch in the Trap Grounds, Goldcrest and Reed Bunting along the canal, Tufted Duck in the Gullet and a couple of squealing WATER RAILS, one in the Trap Grounds and one in the flooded field opposite St Edwards playing fields. In fact the Goldcrest and Water Rail were official Patch year ticks as no one has yet reported them. We're now on 78 for the year which is a reasonable total given that we've had no waders to speak of so far apart from Redshank. Steve Goddard added Coal Tit from his garden this week and Keith Dancey reported a SPARROWHAWK on Oxonbirds as part of his RSPB Garden Bird Watch results. We still need Buzzard, Kingfisher and Pheasant which no doubt we'll pick up at some point.

Some of the Tufted Duck on the Gullet this morning

Sunday 26th January

The floods are still very much with us at present. They had been starting to recede nicely by the middle of the week but the heavy rain over the last few days has probably reversed that. I've been checking out the gull roost most evenings, often in the company of Liam Langley though viewing is currently rather difficult as the birds are rather distant. I think that I've been rather spoilt on the gulling front having rather got used to relatively close views on the Meadow - currently they are much more Farmoor-esque. The highlight of recent days was a fine adult MEDITERRANEAN GULL found by Liam and there have been a few adult YELLOW-LEGGED GULLS about as well but no white-wingers so far apart from an aberrant Herring gull with white primaries on one side (probably the bird that was about towards the end of last year).

As part of the Meadow team effort Steve Goddard in Wolvercote has reported Siskin, Green Woodpecker and TAWNY OWL from his garden in Wolvercote. The year list is ticking along nicely though we still need Goldcrest, Kingfisher, Pheasant (perhaps along the canal), Tufted Duck & Pochard (the Gullet in Wolvercote?) and Buzzard if anyone can add these.

Meadow Scene taken by Duncan Eames (c)

Wednesday 21st January

The floods are still very full and this is continuing to make for rather difficult birding conditions on the Patch. They have started to recede just enough for a few "islands" of grass to start appearing though the gull roost is still rather small - the abundance of attractive flooded fields across the county means that gulls are presently rather spoilt for choice. The only bird of note of late has been a 1st winter YELLOW-LEGGED GULL.

There not much action on the wader front though the five overwintering REDSHANK are still about. The usual ducks are still spread out over the "lake" with a count of 26 PINTAIL last night and a smattering of Gadwall to add some interest to the mix. There are usually a few GOOSANDER about with a peak count of 11 last week. The LITTLE GREBE is still hanging out along the Castle Mill Stream though in the flooded conditions it seems to prefer skulking in the reeds to being out in the open. Along the same stream the Great Crested Grebes have started their elegant courtship dancing.

Additions to the year list since my last posting have included a MARSH TIT along the Castle Mill Stream and the Medley Farm NUTHATCH which was coming to the bird table by the Sea Scout Hut. The resident Kestrel near the Perch Inn is still about and a Red Kite is hanging about there as well. In addition Liam Langley has managed to add Reed Bunting, Skylark, Bullfinch and PEREGRINE to the list. With a tally of 71 birds we are now fast approaching the target that I set of 75 birds by the end of the winter.

Three of the five Redshank on one of the grass islands

Monday 13th January

There's not been a lot to report over the last week or so. The huge flood waters are still with us though they have finally started to recede a little. The usual ducks are still bobbing about in the middle though they are very distant. There are plenty of gulls about taking advantage of the floods up at the very north end by Wolvercote. The gull roost in the evenings is rather hard to view and to be honest I have more or less given up trying for now - once the waters start to recede again it will be a lot easier to check out. If we should get a sudden freeze whilst the waters are like this then we can often get displaced diving ducks such as Tufted Duck and Pochard, coming onto the Meadow - this is often the best way to get these normally scarce Meadow birds on the year list.

In the absence of the evening gull roost I've been checking out the Trap Grounds and Burgess Field a little more, especially at this time of year when I'm chasing around trying to get stuff on the year list. The list is ticking over with Mistle Thrush, Jay and Greater Spotted Woodpecker all added in the last few days and Liam Langley also reported a LITTLE GREBE on the Castle Mill stream. There are lots of Redwings about at the moment, often to be heard murmuring away in trees, sounding a bit like Goldfinches.

The floods looking north from the Burgess Field gate towards Wolvercote

Sunday 5th January

Happy New Year! So another year has kicked off. It's always interesting in January to have to seek out once again various relatively common species for the year list - it's the only time that many of them get much attention. So far I've managed 51 from a target of about 75 that I would normally expect at this time of year. The highlights so far was a JACK SNIPE and I've also had a few Lesser Redpolls flying over and calling. 

On the Meadow itself we're still firmly entrenched in Lake Mode with the waters rising if anything over the last few days and now creeping slowly towards Wolvercote. The ducks seem happy enough though they are rather hard to observe now. There are double figure counts of PINTAIL about at the moment though - they always seem to like it when the floods are extended. It's when the waters are huge like this that we can often attract rarer (for the Meadow) ducks such as Tufted Duck and Pochard. Like last year we seem to have five over wintering REDSHANK. They can regularly be found roosting on one of the logs over by the large Poplar trees to the north of the Perch Inn when the waters are like this. The gull roosts have been variable in size but they are rather far away so it's harder to pick things out though I have already managed the first YELLOW-LEGGED GULL of the year.

This Wigeon wishes you a Happy New Year!

Review of the Year on the Meadow

We've finished the year as we started with extensive flooding heading all the way up to Wolvercote. By many measures it's been a rather strange year on the Patch. We had a fantastic start to the year and managed to pick up almost all the species that we might expect in the first five months of the year. In fact by the end of May we'd managed a year list total of 133 with which one would be reasonably happy for the whole year. After that it all went a bit pear-shaped!

Of particular note in January this year was the large flock of Barnacle Geese which made the floods their home for a few days. Usually Barnacle Geese appear in small numbers in the county as escapee's etc and aren't "tickable" at all but these birds were part of the large feral flocks that live in the home counties and which are classified as official Category C birds and therefore officially tickable. They're at least as tickable as the Greylags that everyone has no problem counting in their county year list so I was rather surprised that more county listers didn't come to see them.

Tickable Barnacle Geese

Last winter was of course a great one for Waxwings and we had quite a few sightings of these lovely birds to start off the year.

A Firecrest that was found by Tom Evans in the Trap Grounds was a great record for the Patch (the first and only one on the Meadow to my knowledge).

Gary the Adult Glauc

In particular the gulling was superb at the start of the year with Caspian Gulls, Iceland Gulls and Glaucous Gulls including a splendid adult bird (a very rare age for this species in the county) which spent several weeks visiting the floods on and off.

By many counts spring was rather disappointing from a wader point of view. Sure we managed to see all the common species that we would normally expect but the floods started fading just at the critical time and there were no Wood Sandpipers this year - normally we might expect several of these rarer waders in the spring on the Meadow. We were blessed with several Avocet in March though which were nice to see.

Avocets (c) Roger Wyatt

We did have a good spring for passage passerines with several Redstarts in Burgess Field (normally a very rare bird on the Patch), plus some Whinchat and even a confiding Tree Pipit.

Burgess Field Tree Pipit

A summer plumaged adult Little Stint at the end of April was a nice bird - this age and plumage is rare in the county.

Adult Spring Little Stint

By the time we were getting to May, the floods were starting to look rather stale and in severe need of a top-up and during this month they basically more or less dried up completely. Still we managed to attract several Garganey; some Whimbrel also popped in albeit briefly.

Garganey are always lovely to see

June was basically flood-free though a couple of probable Spoonbills in the last puddle in early June added some excitement. Steve Goddard managed to turn up an Upper Thames area moth first in the form of the micro Telechrysis tripuncta.

Telechrysis tripuncta

After that it got very quiet for a while with just butterflies and moths to break the tedium of what was largely a birdless desert. I managed to find a rare micro as well with this Metalampa Italica, only the third ever record for the area. July, August and September seemed to drag on for ever with no flood water and no birds.

Metalampa Italica

Finally, in the start of October a birding miracle happened. I was just trudging back from another fruitless search of the still bone dry Meadow when I heard the unmistakable call of a Yellow-browed Warbler. It was a good autumn for this Siberian vagrant nationally and fortunately one chose to linger for a few days at the bottom of Walton Well Road by the car park.

 

The Yellow-browed Warbler (c) Roger Wyatt

After that it was back to birdlessness until the second half of the month when, thanks to some decent rainfall, the flood waters finally returned. These remained until the end of the year and with the water came the returning gulls which kept me happily occupied for the rest of the year. The highlights of the last two months were three Caspian Gulls (two adults and a 1st winter) and a juvenile Iceland Gull.

Caspian Gull

Iceland Gull

So that was the year on the Meadow. The final year list total was 134 with the Yellow-browed Warbler being the only addition in the second half of the year. There's no doubt that this warbler should get the title of "Bird of the Year" on the Meadow - it was a real gem. I feel really privileged to have such a wonderful patch so close to home which I can visit - it really is a joy to bird. Let's hope for an even better 2014.