On Wednesday (27/03) I bumped into Grimsbury Res regular Jim. He mentioned that someone had showed him a picture of what appeared to be a Whooper Swan, present on the Borrow Pit, Banbury back on the previous Sunday. I only get up there occasionally as I never have quite enough time. However on Wednesday evening, I decided to head up past the reservoir and along canal, to take a look after work. A long shot but you never know! On arrival, there were no Swans in sight, however about 15 minutes later, a group of swans flew in from the nearby fields and amazingly, amongst them was indeed a Whooper Swan!
I sat and watched it for quite a while as it drank and caught flies from the water's surface. It even called a couple of times.
My instinct it is 2CY bird with the yellow not quite as bright as you would expect from an adult. One thing that is for certain, is that it is a very scarce bird in this area, so a great thing to see and
So after an initial trickle of early spring migrants across the UK, I was soon encountering a few myself locally, as March rolled on. Chiffchaff numbers have slowly built up in most areas with 5+ singing at Grimsbury Res by mid-month. My first Little Ringed Plover of 2019 and in fact, my earliest ever, appeared on the evening of Tuesday 12/03 at Grimsbury Res. Yet again we get the 1st Oxon LRP of the year! One of my earliest Wheatears appeared at Grimbo on 22/03, flicking around with Pied Wags! Finally, Sand Martins too have appeared several times with the first on 17/03.
At this time of year, my garden pond becomes a hive of activity, with lots of mating Common Frogs and the resulting hefty piles of frogspawn. Always a fab thing to see just outside the backdoor!
The recent mild weather and sunshine has really brought out lots of butterflies too - stark contrast to this time last year!
I had a full day for birding on Sunday 17/03. It started by meeting Gareth for a circuit of the Grimbo patch, which yielded very little, until on the home straight back to the car, 5 Sand Martins appeared over the reservoir and lingered until we left. Our first of the year.
I decided to spend the afternoon at Rutland Water with seemingly a nice suite of things to see and you never know, I may find something decent too. Having seen that earlier in the week, the first Osprey had returned to the Manton Bay area, I began by parking up and viewing the bay from the road. I was in luck too, with immediate views of an un-ringed Osprey perched up next to the live feed nest camera. I watched it for about half an hour, in the hope it would fly around a bit, however it just sat their chilling, having a bit of a preen.
Next, I moved onto the North Arm to have a scan. After a while I picked up the three wintering Slavonian Grebes, with one in particular, showing advanced signs of summer plumage. Nearby, the two Black-Necked Grebes appeared, now pretty much in pristine summer plumage. All were rather distant scope views but nice enough. A few vocal Redshank & Oystercatchers were also in evidence here - more sounds of springtime.
After a good natter with local birder Andy Mackay and a heavy hail shower, I drove a short distance into Hambleton village to check out the area off Old Hall. Another biblical-type Hail storm rolled in for a while, however it was soon replaced by sunshine and blue skies!! There was no sign of the wintering Red-Necked Grebe, however I was treated to good views of 5 Scaup (2 drakes) not too far offshore, as well as the roaming escaped female Bufflehead - I last saw her at Clifford Hill GP back in August 2017!
I finished on the Egleton Reserve in the hope of some good views of wildfowl, particularly Smew. Luckily, I had the Dunlin Hide overlooking Lagoon 4, all to myself. With a bit of patience, I ended up getting some fabulous views of 3 Smew (1 drake), as well as a further 6-7 on the far side. The views would've been even better, had it not been for one of the local Great Crested Grebes ambushing them from underwater, just as they were coming perfectly into view - bugger! They of course flew off, to the far sign of the lagoon! A pair of Pintail & a Curlew were also about.
Before I left for home, a report of a possible Bonaparte's Gull took me over to the Shoveler Hide, overlooking the nearby Lagoon 3. It often provides great views of ducks and today was no exception, particularly confiding were the several Shelduck right in front of the hide.
Several Shoveler, Gadwall and Pochard were also very showy, in nice light too. I and others, were unable to find anything resembling a Bonaparte's...hmmmm!
