A great few days for tern fans in the Banbury area, with Common and Arctic at both Boddington and Grimsbury Reservoir yesterday, and our two rarer terns - Little and Sandwich - last Thursday and today respectively. Looking back at the records, the Little just shades the Sandwich in local rarity terms, but both are exciting and beautiful birds to have on our local patch and well done to the finders.
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| Little Tern, Boddington Reservoir |
The Little Tern spent most of the time fluttering around in the middle of Boddington Reservoir, but after a heavy shower passed through it decided to take some time out and perched on the pontoon, for a preen and rest. With a quick jog around the reservoir I managed to capture some phonescope clips before it took off again.
The Sandwich Tern was much more obliging, not only appearing on a weekend day, but also flying around the perimeter of the reservoir for some nice fly-pasts, and regularly stopping for a break on one of the buoys. It was also able to catch a few fish, hopefully fuelling it on it's way to a breeding colony somewhere on the coast.
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| Common Tern, Boddington Reservoir |
Lots else going on of course with spring in full swing, here are a few more recent images from the local area. Possibly most notable has been the abundance of Orange Tip butterflies, including both make and females in our back garden, attracted to Honesty flowers.
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| Stock Dove, Boddington Reservoir |
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| Whooper Swan with Mutes, Borrow Pit |
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| Holly Blue, Ardley Quarry nature reserve |
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| Orange Tip, female |
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| Orange Tip, male |
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| Long-tailed Tit, Ardley Quarry |
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| Reed Bunting, male, Borrow Pit |
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