A blog to record sightings at and around Port Meadow in Oxford. http://surfbirds.com/blog/PortMeadowBirding/ en-us Webligo BlogHoster Today overcast and turning rainy later but remarkably warm for the time of year. A morning run around the Meadow found things pretty much the same as in recent days. The duck flock, still mostly wigeon with some teal were still hanging out near the Trap Ground allotment area. The black-headed gulls with one lesser black-backed gull were in the South Channel together with some lapwings and fourteen golden plover. A good sized linnet flock was buzzing around and still plenty of meadow pipits, pied wagtails and a few skylarks. One snipe was flushed from the Hinterland and a grey wagtail flew over. A few redwings could be heard calling from within the allotments. A fleeting glimpse of a bullfinch was had within Burgess Field NR. The lesser black-backed gull, taken yesterday in sunnier conditions © Adam Hartley http://surfbirds.com/blog/PortMeadowBirding/12768/ No visits to the Meadow today. However this morning Farmoor regular Dai John saw two divers fly over Wytham Hill and one of them came down on the reservoir and was identified as a GREAT NORTHERN DIVER which stayed for a good part of the day there. The other bird was not identified and flew back over the hill. This is relevant to this blog as the Meadow is the other side of Wytham hill from the reservoir so the diver would have technically been visible from the Meadow and may well have actually flown over it. A bit tenuous I know but in the present circumstances one needs to clutch at all the straws that come our way. Any excuse to show my one good Great Northern Diver photo! Taken at Farmoor © Adam Hartley http://surfbirds.com/blog/PortMeadowBirding/12767/ A couple of days to report on: yesterday there were a moderate number of wigeon and teal about when I visited in the morning but a dog chased them away and the vast majority left and were not seen again that day. There was not much else of note except that an evening stroll along the river (which is rising nicely but still needs a couple of feet before we get a proper flood) found very large numbers (70+) of pied wagtails congregating together. This lead me to wonder where they might roost as this species is well known for coming together in large numbers for their evening roost. Just a single golden plover was seen in the evening. Today on a wind-swept Meadow I found about 300 wigeon about and much closer in near the Trap Grounds Creek but with only a handful of teal in amongst them. Clearly both species come and go; I wonder where they are when not on the Meadow. There were two or three lesser black-backed gulls in amongst the black-headed flock on the Meadow. The usual grassland birds (linnets, mipits and wagtails) still around together with a couple of skylarks. Burgess Field was quiet except for a skulking redwing at the north end. A rather wind-swept pied wagtail © Adam Hartley http://surfbirds.com/blog/PortMeadowBirding/12755/ A later afternoon visit to the Meadow today in order to see what sort of gull pre-roost there might be. The answer was that there was a modest one with about 50 black-headed gulls, a dozen or so lesser black-backed gulls and a few herring gulls. However the birds were flushed by someone walking too close to them and they all departed over the hill for Farmoor. I think that the floods are a bit too small in size at present to allow plenty of room for the birds without getting flushed by dog walkers etc. There was a steady stream of gulls all heading west to Farmoor going over but not much else to report on with the strong wind probably putting off many birds. Gulls on the Meadow (taken from our archive of photos). © Adam Hartley http://surfbirds.com/blog/PortMeadowBirding/12736/ What a difference a day makes! Today, in the morning at least, weather conditions were perfect with not a cloud in the sky, brilliant sunshine and very little wind. Conditions were ideal for photography and I was hoping to get some close-up shots of the ducks but they'd been pushed to the far reaches by another photographer who only had an SLR. The wigeon and teal seem happily ensconced in their winter residence though there were only a few golden plover about this morning. Now that there's some water there are reasonable gull numbers starting to appear and whilst they were all black-headed gulls this morning there were several lesser black-backed gulls present yesterday that I forgot to mention. We might even start getting a decent gull pre-roost in the evening now. The grass was absolutely full of meadow pipits though try as I might I couldn't find any rarer pipits: a water pipit was found on Otmoor yesterday and would be most welcome to grace the Meadow floods. Some chaffinches and greenfinches bathing and drinking near Burgess Field and lots of starlings, linnets and pied wagtails enjoying the abundant food in the rain-soaked grass. With reasonable flood waters about now we can start to hope for wintering dunlin, ruff and redshank to put in an appearance. One of a huge number of meadow pipits about on the floods this morning. © Adam Hartley http://surfbirds.com/blog/PortMeadowBirding/12728/ A wild and woolly day today with rain and very strong winds. A late morning visit to the Meadow found that the rain flood waters have now extended so that even down to the South Tail there is some flood water and birds were plentiful everywhere. It was the same birds as yesterday but somehow it felt like the Meadow was back to what it should be, what with the extensive floods, the wind and rain and the piping wigeon and teal grazing away, plentiful snipe probing the newly softened mud, the hunkered down golden plover and lapwings. The large feral goose flock were all on the floods and only served to add to the wonderful autumnal tableau. There were plenty of meadow pipits, pied wagtails, starlings and linnets around and one somehow gets the sense that something much more interesting could turn up in amongst them or along the flood shore line any day now. Meadow scene. Á lá "Where's Wally" If you look carefully you should be able to spot a golden plover and a snipe in amongst the teal and wigeon in this rather wind and rain blurred photo. © Adam Hartley http://surfbirds.com/blog/PortMeadowBirding/12720/ With persistent rain from yesterday afternoon onwards the Meadow water has been topped up yet again and are now looking almost worthy of the name floods. The North Channel now stretches basically its full length and there is a reasonable pool near the allotments. In recognition of its status as now officially flooded, the wigeon and teal were finally back in good numbers with about 200 of each along the North Reach. There were also good numbers of mallards around on the grass as well. Golden plover numbers have increased again with two flocks: one in the North Channel and one in the South with the combined total making about 550 birds. There were about 30 or 40 black-headed gulls loafing in the North Channel. Starlings were also present in large numbers with probably in excess of 200 around. The usual meadow pipits, linnets and pied wagtails were liberally sprinkled across the Meadow and a few snipe were buzzing around, no doubt relishing the return to more snipe-favourable conditions. Burgess Field NR also had good numbers of birds with large numbers (c. 50) of goldfinches along the hedgerow with lots of chaffinches as well. There were also lots of redwings and fieldfares in the north west corner and one snipe flushed from the snipe field. A teal © Nigel Forrow. It's great to have them and the wigeon back on the Meadow again. http://surfbirds.com/blog/PortMeadowBirding/12714/ An e-mail on this subject by Keith Dancey taken from OxonBirds: I have live in Wolvercote for well over thirty years, and in that time I have found it rare for the Meadow to hold flood water around the Aristotle Lane entrance beyond the winter months. It normally floods once (maybe, twice) a year during winter, and the low-lying fingers of Meadow opposite Medley trap the river water and fish. These fingers do not drain back into the main course of the river because of higher ground between them and the river. Hence, the "floods" ability to persist beyond the river being in spate. These fingers of low-lying ground do not form any significant catchment area, however, so it is even rarer for them to "pool" significantly from mere heavy or persistent rain. I have known several years when the river has never burst it banks, not even in winter, and the Meadow has not held any significant standing water at all in those periods. Up until recently, the "normal" course of events is for a varying degree of flooding to occur, usually but not always, in winter, and for that flooding to disappear by summer. Also, up until recently, those winter floods regularly froze, allowing local people to ice skate on the Meadow. Not every flood reaches Wolvercote Common, in the north, however. That is fairly rare. Up until recently, then, the Meadow is normally bone dry in summer, including even the "seasonal pools" alongside Godstow Road. I can remember when these pools always dried out in summer. In the summer of 1976 I walked across the Thames at Godstow Bridge, barely getting the soles of my sandals damp. The River was just one or two feet wide and easily jumped. In those days - before the Law insisted on manned supervision - there was a thriving river bathing place, complete with changing huts, below the bridge (all gone now, along with Longbridge, Tumbling Bay, Parson's Pleasure...) In that summer, all the canal locks were sealed shut. I think, if you inspect the vegetation, you will not find a great deal of the typical wetland grasses of semi-permanent wetland, testifying to the seasonal nature of the Meadow's past flooding. However, our climate is changing, and the pattern of flooding on the Meadow has recently changed dramatically. I would say that since the "Great Flood" of 2007, the Godstow Road pools have never dried out, and the fingers of low-lying Meadow remained completely flooded, for the first time ever, for more than two full years. Since then, wetland grasses have started to appear. But will they last? It is interesting to note that the "Great Flood" was a July event; not a typical winter flood. Climatalogically speaking, July is unique in that, over recorded history, it holds the thirty-year average for both the driest and wettest month! However, those changes in climate were not being driven by the same forces which are beginning to play havoc now. In the last three years, local birders have "benefitted" from the Port Meadow floods, but it remains to be seen whether these will continue on quite the same scale. Wetland birds, and birders, may be disappointed. Keith Dancey http://surfbirds.com/blog/PortMeadowBirding/12698/ A lunch-time run around the patch found a little sunshine trying to break through the thick blanket of cloud briefly. There were still some small pools of water along the north channel and a little near the Trap Ground allotments and there was plenty of bird life to go with it. There were a pair of EGYPTIAN GEESE (a very welcome patch year tick in these lean times) on the grass near the North Channel though they later made their way over to the boat moorings and the river. On the floods themselves there were two groups of golden plover totalling at least 300 birds. There were also about 30 or 40 black-headed gulls, a similar number of lapwing and a single winter-plumaged DUNLIN though there was no sign of the ruff. Lots of linnets, meadow pipits and pied wagtails as usual and a single stock dove in amongst the wood pigeon on the grass. One snipe was flushed from the Hinterland area. In Burgess Field there was a flock of 12 fieldfare feeding in the hedgerow. Despite the terrain looking ideal for this winter visitor, they are not actually seen that often within the patch except as flyovers. At the north end of the nature reserve was a lovely male stonechat and three snipe were flushed from the boggy grass area. An Egyptian goose (taken at the Thames at Goring earlier this year) © Adam Hartley http://surfbirds.com/blog/PortMeadowBirding/12697/ Unfortunately with all the birding excitment in the county in the last few days (rose-coloured starling, black redstart, snow bunting, slavonian grebe and red-breasted merganser) I've been a bit neglectful of the Meadow. I hope to get back out there in the next day or two. From private e-mail (MBG): "The single RUFF was still in the North Channel yesterday afternoon (Monday); three cormorants were in one of the poplar trees." http://surfbirds.com/blog/PortMeadowBirding/12694/