Woodstock Wildlife Record

  It's nice to have some breeding ducks at Blenheim that aren't the resident mallards. Gadwall is a good breeding record for Blenheim and Oxfordshire generally. There are two family parties, each with 3 ducklings. One family did begin with at least 4 ducklings. Tufted duck is another good breeding record for Blenheim, hopefully these 4 survive to adulthood. They are at least in an area of the lakes less frequently visited by the resident lesser black-backed gulls that take a good number of mallard ducklings.  Above is the younger family, originally seen with 4 young. And below is the older family. Subtly beautiful ducks. Only one brood of tufted ducks so far. There are not many adults at Blenheim at the moment, but maybe some more young will emerge soon.

This week at Blenheim has seen a lot more activity from the Cattle Egrets, with at least 8 birds present at various times including a mix of adult and juvenile birds. The numbers here appear to coincide with the larger numbers now being seen at Otmoor and Standlake. The Common Tern young are now capable of flight and have been using the platforms used for the dredging work as a convenient place to roost before moving off once the work commences at 7am. The adults are quick to mob anyone who walks anywhere near where the young might be. 2 of the original 3 young have survived to fledge which is a great success considering how vulnerable they were on the nest. It has been nice to see the return of Common Sandpipers to Blenheim, with at least 5 present at times of the past couple of weeks. There have been far more in both spring and now autumn migration than last year.