My Bank Holiday weekend began with a short morning walk in my favourite of the local Woods, Bucknell on Saturday 29/04. I was chuffed to encounter my first ever Grasshopper Warbler here, singing along the edge of one of the rides. After providing a few short bursts of song, it eventually really got going as I stood closeby. Very nice indeed! A short way further along the track, a singing Cuckoo appeared too. Good to see at least one has returned here to another year at least! Late-ish singles of Siskin & Redpoll flying about, completed my walk.
Sunday (30/04) promised plenty, as the wind switched to an SE direction. I had the full day for birding and so started at the Grimsbury patch, Banbury for a good session.
Things began promisingly with a single tern sp. bypassing the res distantly E. A few moments later the first good bird(s) of the day appeared, with a group of 5 Arctic Tern heading low and strongly S along the adjacent river. Best of the rest early on included 2 Little Egrets flew high SE, followed by a single Swift N and a Yellow Wagtail through too. Singles of Common Sandpiper & LRP were also seen early on.
Gareth then joined me. With just the odd ones & twos of Hirundines through, we decided to walk up the Cherwell valley to the Borrow Pit on the other side of the M40. This was very worthwhile, picking up a smart male Wheatear and, even better, a cracking male Whinchat too! We sat and enjoyed these for a while, also notching flyovers of Peregrine and another Little Egret S, as well as presumably the same Commons Sandpiper from earlier.
Walking through further habitat along the river produced our first patch Reed Warbler of the year, plus two flyover Common Tern too. Back at the res, we had another shortish watch which proved fruitful, with decent views of a Hobby that cruised through N.
With lots of Terns and Waders turning up throughout the country and our mate Dan Watson enjoying a great morning over at Draycote, Gareth and I decided to try both Daventry & Boddington Reservoirs. We had a good scan of Dav, sifting through approximately 30 Common Terns flying about, however we couldn't locate any scarcer Terns. The White Fronted Goose of potentially suspect origin was though still in situ.
On then to Bodd. On arrival, we were not surprised, but disappointed to find sailing in full swing and surely ruining our chances of anything good over the water. Just though when we were thinking of trying somewhere else, we simultaneously picked up two lovely adult Black Tern at the distant, dam end of the reservoir. Get in! We walked up to the far end and spent a while enjoying these beauties, a Boddington first for me.
During our walk about, we also encountered 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Yellow Wagtail & 5 singing Reed Warbler. On return to the car, we decided to go and meet up with Dan at Draycote, with plenty of birds to enjoy there. One last scan of the reservoir delayed these plans slightly, as a big ball of terns could be seen coming down the reservoir towards us! They were Arctic Terns, totalling I think, 34 plus a single Common Tern too. Really exciting to see!! We enjoyed the birds for a while, flying around, joined also by the Black Terns too. It was then onto Draycote in good spirits!
Draycote produced further exciting birding with lots going on and birds dropping in regularly. Dan got us onto 5 Black Tern in the centre of the vast expanse, together with a couple of Arctic Tern viewed from just W of the sailing club. We walked E, the other side of the sailing club and cafe, more terns were visually dropping in with as many as 70-80 birds now flying around in a big group. The birds appeared to be a combination of both Commons and Arctics, though assessing numbers of each was difficult. The Black Terns too had increased in number with 19-20 birds in one tight group. Several Dunlin headed straight through totalling 14 birds, a Ringed Plover circled the reservoir, a Hobby flew SW and there were several Yellow Wagtail on the nearby grassy banks feeding away.
With plenty happening at Draycote, Gareth and I decided to have one last crack at Grimsbury, back in Banbury, before going home. Disappointingly, there was nothing of any note on arrival. We sat it out for a bit, but nothing was willing to drop in. Gareth decided to head home, while I decided to give it another 15 minutes or so. Unfortunately for him, a little while later, just when I was contemplating leaving, 5 stunning Black Tern dropped out of the gloomy sky and began actively feeding over the reservoir! I've seen Black Tern at Grimsbury on several occasions but these were my first spring birds there, so I was pretty chuffed! They continued to fly about for 10 minutes before they began calling to each other, gained height and off E. An exciting end to a great day's birding!
With weather conditions similar to Sunday's, Gareth and I had one more patch stint early on Bank Holiday Monday (01/05), hoping for more Terns and possibly a few more waders than we had, had so far. As it turned out, we saw a few nice bit and bobs but overall, it was pretty quiet. The highlight was a female Whinchat that appeared first thing, along the fence line on the W side of the reservoir. Other birds of note both here and in the Upper Cherwell included a female Wheatear, 3 Common Terns through, Peregrine and Red Kite over, Willow Tit, 2-3 Common Sandpiper & 2 LRP.
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