Since my last blog post we've had and interesting period for birding in the Banbury area, with floods, persistent drizzle and cool weather that has not felt very spring-like. A feeling compounded by the persistence of some winter visitors in our area, but now relieved by the arrival of our first waves of summer migrants and today, at long last, some glorious sunshine!.
Barn Owls are always a delight to watch and they seem to have been more active during daylight recently. I was treated to an excellent prolonged view of this bird as it hunted around the grassy perimeter of Balscote Quarry nature reserve a couple of weeks back.
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| Barn Owl, Balscote Quarry nature reserve |
Meanwhile, in the back garden, a flurry of excitement as Bramblings continued to visit the feeders, two different male birds and a female. The males gradually mastered balancing in the perches, the female picked it up straight away. They have been around the garden since the blast of cold weather in early March, and were still around last week, but now appear to have departed back towards Scandinavia.
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| Male Brambling with two Tree Sparrows |
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| Female Brambling with male Chaffinh |
A very fleeting treat (for probably less than an hour) was the visit of a male and female Redpoll to the niger seed feeder - which is closer to the back windows than the other feeders - resulting in some fabulous views and better close-up photos, albeit through the double glazing. The male was particularly stunning with his beautiful pink plumage
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| Male and female Redpoll |
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| Male Redpoll |
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| Male Redpoll |
The floods that came though the Cherwell Valley a couple of weeks ago were pretty impressive and filled the valley for some days, especially around Clifton and Souldern Wharf where the land sits quite low beside the river. The landscape was transformed into a beautiful wetland, and a few remaining Wigeon and Teal made the most of the opportunity before heading off to northern breeding grounds.
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| Souldern Wharf |
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| Clifton |
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| Clifton |
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| Brown Hare, near Thenford |
This past week has been very murky and drizzly, not very pleasant to be out and about in, but it has actually been great for birding, especially at Grimsbury Reservoir, where we have been treated to not just one but two real star birds: a drake Common Scoter and a stunning Black-necked Grebe in majestic breeding plumage. Both birds are pretty rare in our area; they were discovered by John Friendship-Taylor and enjoyed by many local birders, especially the grebe, which stayed a full two days. A great example of what you can find on a local patch if you keep looking.
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| Drake Common Scoter |
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| Black-necked Grebe |
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| Black-necked Grebe |
The Black-necked Grebe was very interesting to watch on the first day, because it closely associated with a drake Tufted Duck, swimming very close behind it all the time, usually with its head tucked into it's breast feathers. The two seemed inseparable at first but the Tufted Duck seemed to get more irritated by the grebe later in the day and we saw them squabble, followed by a temporary parting!
Also of interest this spring is the continued presence of the Hawfinches that arrived in large numbers at the back end of the autumn. In the past week or so they have still been present in their favoured sites locally, including Compton Verny and Thenford Church; I also found a flock of six again at Wroxton Abbey last Sunday. It will be really interesting to see if they return to the continent soon or stay on locally to breed.
