Rushbeds Wood and BBS: Silver-washed Fritillaries and disappearing Tree Sparrows

I have a bit of catching up to do on the blog front, so apologies for recent inactivity! 
Yesterday morning I made my second and final BTO Breeding Bird Survey visit to my 1km2 survey site near Moreton Pinkney in south Northamptonshire.  This is the eleventh year running I have surveyed this area and I have now seen 70 species in total - normally I record about 45 species each year (but nothing new this year, so getting harder to add new birds!).  For most of the common species the numbers are quite consistent, the main change is that Tree Sparrow has gone from really quite common - 23 in 2007 and 14 in 2010 - to none at all either last year or this year.  The species showing upward trends have been Goldcrest, Raven (now breeds very close to the survey square) and Buzzard.  Some of the scarcer birds seen over the years have included Barn Owl, Willow Tit, Hobby, Cuckoo and Kingfisher.  I would definitely recommend participating - the BTO website enables easy data entry and you can generate really useful summary reports from your own sightings.  You are also making a significant contribution to the national scheme that is so vital for monitoring our birds.

Later in the morning, a trip down to Rushbeds Wood nature reserve in the Bernwood Forest area south of Bicester was rewarded with some nice butterfly sightings and some stunning flower meadows.  This was my first visit and I was really impressed with the woodland and equally, the adjoining meadows of Lapland Farm, all managed by BBOWT.   I had hoped to find Black Hairstreaks, but didn't manage to connect despite scanning some excellent looking habitat, however I did manage to find several Silver-washed Fritillaries and a couple of White Admirals.

Silver-washed Fritillary

Silver-washed Fritillary nectaring on bramble

mating pair of fritillaries

Lapland Farm meadow, full of flowers and butterflies - in particular, numerous Meadow Brown and Marbled White

Flowers included Dropwort, Great Burnet and Common Spotted Orchid

Black-tailed Skimmer

Some good news for our local meadows from the Save Gavray Meadows campaign group.  Their tireless work to defend a cluster of meadows in Bicester from housing development achieved a notable success with the refusal by Cherwell District Council Planning Committee of the latest planning application from the developer, Gallagher.  However, there will be an appeal and no doubt this campaign will have to continue for some time to come.

Last week, on Wednesday, I continued my RSPB-organised wader survey in the Middle Cherwell Valley near Somerton (my third visit of the season).  Curlew continue to frequent the floodplain meadows in this area; on this visit one adult was feeding in a recently cut silage field.

This stretch of the Cherwell Valley is also good for farmland wildlife and is rewarding to visit year-round.  Common Poppies were particularly showy this time, with swathes of scarlet running through a couple of fields, especially near the margins.  Yellow Wagtails were gathering food from a large pile of manure, and Yellowhammers were singing from the tall hedgerows

Early morning view across the Cherwell Valley with dew-covered crops

Common Poppy

 

Banburyshire and beyond: spring in full swing

April is a great month to be out in the field, which can make it even harder to keep up with the blogging!  Our resident birds are busy nesting, and some are already raising young.  And our migrants are arriving in ever greater numbers, returning to their favoured haunts to breed or just passing through on their journey north.  Many flowers and trees are looking their best too - meadows full of fritillaries and cowslips, copses and hedgerows bursting with cherry and crab apple blossom.  I've been able to spend a good amount of time out and about, mostly in the local area but with a few trips just beyond,  here are some of my highlights .....

male Little Ringed Plover, Grimsbury Reservoir, 5 April

Female Little Ringed Plover, Grimsbury Reservoir, 5 April

Chiffchaff, Tadmarton Heath BOS nature reserve, 7 April

Snakeshead Fritillaries, Clattinger Farm Wiltshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve, Cotswold Water Park, 8 April

one of the fritillaries, 8 April

Red-necked Grebe, Daventry Country Park, 9 April

pair of Red-necked Grebes and single Great Crested Grebe, Daventry Country Park, 9 April

Red-necked Grebe, Daventry Country Park, 9 April

Eurasian White-fronted Goose, Daventry Country Park, 9 April

Song Thrush with ornamental cherry blossom, Grimsbury Reservoir, 10 April

Long-tailed Tit gathering spiders webs, Grimsbury Reservoir, 10 April

collected and ready to use!

Woodpigeons, Grimsbury Reservoir, 11 April

female Mallard on her nest at Grimsbury Reservoir , 13 April

male Blackcap in Ash tree, Tadmarton Heath BOS nature reserve, 16 April

Mistle Thrush, Tadmarton Heath Golf Course driving range, 16 April

Mistle Thrush, Tadmarton Heath Golf Course driving range, 16 April

Horsetails emerging, Tad

male Grey Partridge (female nearby), Upper Wardington - on strip of bare tilled ground that has attracted up to 7 passage Northern Wheatears in the past week.

Sand Martins at Farmoor Reservoir near Oxford, 17 April - where there were also my first Swifts and House Martin of the year (but no Bonaparte's Gull, I think I was about an hour too late!)

and finally....

male Great Bustards, Salisbury Plain (Great Bustard Project tour), 8 April

male Great Bustard, Salisbury Plain, 8 April

Edge Hill Wood: Wood Anemones

Great to be out in the field today, calm conditions and increasingly sunny with really beautiful light in the evening.  Spring flowers are starting to look their best, especially Primroses and Wood Anemones.  I stumbled across a wonderful display of anemones whilst exploring the strip of ancient woodland that covers the scarp slope of  Edge Hill overlooking Radway, in south Warwickshire. 
Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers are numerous here, as are Nuthatches and Goldcrests, you can also find Marsh Tits, whilst often overhead are Buzzards, Ravens and Red Kites.  There are plenty of big old trees with lots of dead wood, which is great to see as it is so important for wildlife, yet is often quite a rare sight in our local woodlands (all too often it is tidied away).

Wood Anemone

Wood Anemones by the thousand....

Obelisk, with The Grange in the background

 

Slightly surprisingly, Marsh Marigolds are at home in the woodland too

Two Tree Sparrows, back garden feeders, Upper Wardington

Male House Sparrow (left) and Tree Sparrow

The sparrow shots I took using my ipad to remotely trigger the shutter, enabling some better close-ups that I would otherwise be able to get.

I also called in to Balscote Quarry BOS nature reserve briefly, where a pair of Lapwings are nesting already, and a pair of Little Ringed Plovers are behaving territorially.  In a neighbouring arable field, a flock of Golden Plovers are still present, having spent the winter in the area.  Their numbers seem to be dwindling rapidly though, as they start to head back north (most likely Scandinavia) - I counted 360 last weekend and only 75 today.  Some are coming into breeding plumage and looking very smart indeed. 

Oxfordshire: State of Nature 2017 launched

This week has seen the launch at Blenheim Palace of a landmark publication that captures the current state of the county's nature.

Inspired by the national State of Nature, this report has been two years in development and includes a marvellous compendium of facts, figures and case studies, contributed by numerous individuals and organisations. 

The report's overall findings are that sadly the overall trend is towards loss and decline in nature, especially for farmland and woodland wildlife, but it also gives clear direction on the way forward needed to reverse this trend and highlights the action required across many sectors. 

Essential reading for anyone with an interest and concern for nature in Oxfordshire, it is also beautifully produced and includes images taken by many local photographers.

Led by Wild Oxfordshire, the report is available in two formats on the Wild Oxfordshire website - a Highlights report and Full report.  Do look at both.  The Full report in particular is a great source of information about who is doing what, and where.  The Oxford Mail has given it some great coverage.

If you don't have time to start reading the reports today please do have a look at this four minute film.