Waders on the move

The birding has certainly picked up a bit around here, with waders now very much on the move, returning from their northern breeding grounds.

Star of the show has been the unexpected appearance of a moulting adult Spotted Redshank at the Ardley ERF lagoon on the evening of 08/08 - found by Oxon birder Gareth Casburn. A cracking little find and a local tick for me too - get in!

Pretty much at peak Green Sand passage now, seeing an amazing 25 between Bicester Wetland (13) and Ardley ERF lagoon (12), on the evening of 04/08. A nice Greenshank a local first of the year, also lingering at ERF - currently looking excellent for waders.

Best bird recently was a flyover Whimbrel at Grimsbury Res on 31/07, alerting Gareth and I as it called overhead. My 3rd on patch and 2nd this year - even better for Gareth, a treasured patch tick!

Now is an excellent time to pick up juvenile Med Gulls as they disperse post-fledging. At least 3 were picked up at Grimsbury Res on 29/07 and so I popped over after work for a look and pick up another local year tick. Managed to see 2 of them, with some nice views right over my head at times. Such smart bird with their scalloped mantle.

Away from the birds, as the scorching weather continues, the garden and lured in another Hummingbird Hawkmoth, as well as Painted Lady and a couple of Common Blues - all scarce visitors to our garden.

Local Lepidoptera

June and July is always a great time to visit the local woods and enjoy a great selection of butterflies.

Managed only a small handful of visits to Bucknell & Whistley Woods this year, but did manage to see most of the specialities, including a few Purple Emperors, Silver-Washed Fritillaries, White Admirals, Wood White, Purple Hairstreak and several Painted Ladies.

I've been keeping a consistent eye on the garden during this relentless period of dry weather. Probably the scarcest thing I saw unfortunately gave me the slip, as a very likely Brown Argus dropped in on my lawn for about 5 seconds before scooting off over the fence. A garden first that got away!

Recorded both Essex and Small Skippers, plus another couple of brief 'small skipper' sightings, zipping straight through.

Several other common species too with particularly good numbers of Gatekeepers. It seems a great year for them - they're everywhere!