16th June: Spotted Crake + business as usual
A lovely start to the day weather-wise.
With the summer doldrums well and truly in place it was very much a case of business as usual: a large number of mute swans and coots still present, a few grey herons and plenty of eclipsed mallards and gadwall. Swifts, swallows and house martins with the occasional sand martin are hawking over the floods and surrounding fields. A few juvenile black-headed gulls around and the COMMON TERN still present (also seen along the canal this morning) A family of swallow fledglings sat in a branch waiting to be fed and at least one juvenile pied wagtail was hanging around. This morning a cuckoo was heard calling distantly.
In Burgess Field the usual residents are busy bringing up their families: recent encounters have included a family of whitethroats and reed buntings with plenty of tits about as well. With the long days the grasshopper warblers are still reeling away until 10pm - one was showing very well last night. The reed warblers still warbling from the Trap Ground reed beds.
In the evening, there was a GOOSANDER at the north end of the Meadow on the Mill stream by the car park at the west end of wolvercote.
Just over the railway to the east of Burgess Field (near Cox's Ground off Elizabeth Jennings Way) a SPOTTED CRAKE was reported to have been calling for a few nights though it was not doing so on Saturday (WoM).
Recently at the north (Wolvercote) end of the Meadow a LITTLE EGRET and a pair of EGPYTIAN GEESE have been reported (OXB).
A song thrush feeding it's young, © Peter Styles.
With the summer doldrums well and truly in place it was very much a case of business as usual: a large number of mute swans and coots still present, a few grey herons and plenty of eclipsed mallards and gadwall. Swifts, swallows and house martins with the occasional sand martin are hawking over the floods and surrounding fields. A few juvenile black-headed gulls around and the COMMON TERN still present (also seen along the canal this morning) A family of swallow fledglings sat in a branch waiting to be fed and at least one juvenile pied wagtail was hanging around. This morning a cuckoo was heard calling distantly.
In Burgess Field the usual residents are busy bringing up their families: recent encounters have included a family of whitethroats and reed buntings with plenty of tits about as well. With the long days the grasshopper warblers are still reeling away until 10pm - one was showing very well last night. The reed warblers still warbling from the Trap Ground reed beds.
In the evening, there was a GOOSANDER at the north end of the Meadow on the Mill stream by the car park at the west end of wolvercote.
Just over the railway to the east of Burgess Field (near Cox's Ground off Elizabeth Jennings Way) a SPOTTED CRAKE was reported to have been calling for a few nights though it was not doing so on Saturday (WoM).
Recently at the north (Wolvercote) end of the Meadow a LITTLE EGRET and a pair of EGPYTIAN GEESE have been reported (OXB).
A song thrush feeding it's young, © Peter Styles.