For one reason or another, I've not made it up there much at all in the last few weeks, however for the first time in a while, I was largely at home across the weekend of 16/11 & 17/11. So on both Saturday & Sunday mornings, I popped up for a look about.
The flooding on Saturday morning was remarkable, if not terribly surprising after what has been a very wet autumn - I've never seen it even remotely close to looking like it did, with the entrance under several inches of water and the cattle fields both hold large lakes! If only they were like that in the spring!
Gareth was also up there and so I went and joined him at the top end of the res. We stood for a chat while keep an eye on goings on. A Yellowhammer went over calling, a welcome year tick there for me - always a tricky bird to see on site. About a minute later 2 very unexpected Egyptian Geese cruised in low and landed in the cattle field 'lake'. Only my second ones ever on patch and a treasured patch tick for Gareth.
Another minute or so went by, before two large white birds came in from a roughly southerly direction. Gareth began getting a bit excitable and it was then I realised why - they were two Great White Egrets! I thought they may drop into the flood, but no, they carried on slowly north. GWEs are not the rarity they once were in the UK and are now seen relatively frequently in many areas of the UK, however for our area, they are still a very rare bird.
They were a patch tick for both us and I'm about 99% certain they'll be site firsts too. Patch ticks are harder and harder to come by after 5 years birding Grimbo, so it's always a buzz when one comes along. A very, very decent 5 minutes indeed!
Saturday whetted my appetite to return on Sunday morning. I had a bit more time to wander about, so I gave the reservoir, wood and Upper Cherwell Valley a good going over.
It wasn't amazing but still managed to see a Little Egret (still relatively scarce), a couple of Stonechats by the Borrow Pit and a few other odds and ends.
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