Well done Birdguides website: coverage of Conference for Nature

Last week Sir David Attenborough gave the keynote speech at the Conference for Nature in London. 

There is a really good piece on the Birdguides and Guardian websites. Well done to them.

For more have a look at the RSPB website too.

Very relevant to the state of nature in Banburyshire just at the moment, with so much development planned for our area, to quote from Birdguides:

Sir David went on to cite the "great new challenges" that can be answered by three elements in society: "naturalists, who can tell you what's happening, who understand species and their requirements; politicians, who can help ensure legislation goes through; ... and business executives, [who] in myriad ways help and make sure businesses take account of what goes on around them and [who can] ensure products are in sympathy with the demands of the natural world.

That is the crux of the challenge for us: we need to be taken seriously by business and politicians if we are to have any chance of rebuilding biodiversity across the landscape, so it is not just confined to flagship nature reserve projects distant from us.   Can we find a way to make sure the new Cherwell Local Plan helps achieve this ambition rather than  just doing the minimum for greenspace requirements?

Meanwhile.....out in the field, autumn migration continues with birds heading south.  My highlight today was hearing blackcaps singing during a walk around Hanwell Fields "Common" this morning, then later in the evening seeing two wheatears hopping around the cattle grazed field at Grimsbury Reservoir.

Upper Cherwell Valley: gathering of the yellow wagtails

My first evening run home for a while was well worth the effort.  First stop Grimsbury Reservoir, where a kingfisher decided to sit on the concrete shoreline, perhaps a few perches would help them?  An elusive redstart finally showed itself properly after giving me the runaround with brief glimpses.  Thence under the motorway to the EA flood defence area, where the newish pool is attracting little grebes - the flock has now increased to eight birds.  Two whinchats were in exactly the same place as last weekend, presumably the same birds?  But a little further on another two; they have found this stretch of weedy grassland to their liking.  In the adjoining cattle grazed meadow a flock of yellow wagtails called loudly. The cattle then decided to run across the field, disturbing the wagails, the flock flying up in a "shreeping" group, allowing me to count thirteen before they disappeared back down into the tussocks of grass.

This blog is not just about birds but rarely do I mention mammals, but this evening I also has nice views of roe deer and a fox.  Roe deer are quite common in the local area and particularly 

favour the floodplain grasslands.  

Rewinding back to the earlyish morning, I also saw lesser whitethroat and garden warbler in slightly misty conditions at Grimsbury Reservoir.  A few meadow pipits and swallows also flew over on migration.

Hanwell Fields - scrubby grassland on edge of town with lesser whitethroats

Hanwell Fields is a recent housing development on the north edge of Banbury.  On its northern flank is an area that has been allowed to "re-wild" into rough grassland with scattered scrub and some nicely overgrown hedgerows.  It is a popular dog walking site, but also attractive to birds and other wildlife.  And at the top of the hill you get great views across Banbury and the Cherwell Valley.

Yesterday I made my first proper visit, partly to see how some of the new housing proposed for Banbury will impact this area.  At the moment the scrubby hillside is not allocated for houses, so there is a glimmer of hope it could be protected as a local greenspace/nature site.  There will be new housing either side and ecologist consultants are already out looking for signs of reptiles and amphibians as part of their environmental assessment.

Highlight for me were a couple of lesser whitethroats, my first for a while.  There were also numbers of yellowhammers, plus a few reed buntings, whitethroats and bullfinches. A flock of about twenty meadow pipits flew over, on their migration south - my first of the autumn but we should expect quite a few more over coming weeks - there are an awful lot of them in our uplands! At the bottom of the slope it is quite marshy and a small reedbed has established, now home to a few reed warblers - including adults feeding newly fledged chicks.

This morning I returned to Grimsbury Reservoir and an otherwise quite walk birdwise was very much improved by a group of three wheatears, especially when two hopped onto the fenceline a posed for my camera.

two wheatears (one very blurry)

wheatear

Tadmarton Heath, quinoa is the brightly coloured "crop"

In the evening I returned to Tadmarton Heath where marsh tits were much in evidence - two juveniles and at least one adult.  The wild bird crop is ripening nicely, the quinoa adding a splash of vibrant colour.  A flock of fifty swallows flew over heading south.  House martins are still flying around the golf club house.

Grimsbury Reservoir: terns move on but redstart turns up

Grimsbury Reservoir was pretty much bereft of birds in the early morning drizzle.  Not even a pied wagtail.  Just a grey heron, a few mallard and a pair of Canada geese.   The black tern and common terns have moved on. 

I returned in the evening in glorious sunshine and it was much more interesting, the highlight for me was my first redstart at the site, and third locally this autumn.  I snatched a couple of pics as it moved along the fenceline next to the grazing cattle.

female/immature redstart, a touch of the Tom Daleys here?

a more elegant pose

A robin was also harassing it just a little, keen to defend it's corner of the fenceline.  A greenshank called overhead but I couldn't spot it, similarly a kingfisher whistled from the river but remained hidden from view.  Also my first visit for a long time with no swallows, martins or swifts - they have headed off south.  No doubt there will be some more but I would expect much smaller numbers from now on.