March 2025

March arrived with some long awaited sunshine and also some lovely views of Hawfinches in the cemetery in Woodstock which I've detailed in a separate post. 

https://woodstockwildlife.blogspot.com/2025/03/hawfinches-woodstock-march-2025.html

They were the undoubted highlight of my month but there were plenty of other good birds to be had as well.

Watching some local Barn owls hunting before dusk on a few occasions was another enjoyable experience. They are often so focussed they don't seem to notice your presence until they get quite close. There is often a discernible moment where they appear to jump when they do see you and quickly change direction.

A drake Goosander at Blenheim in the first week of the month was only my second here this winter.

A Barnacle goose was present at Blenheim throughout the month, associating with the growing numbers of Greylags and Canada geese and was quite approachable. I presume it has lost the rest of the feral flock that has been around this winter. Wigeon numbers gradually dwindled to single figure counts as the month progressed and all had left by April. Sand Martins returned towards the end of the month after much anticipation and quickly got reacquainted with their nesting site on the Grand Bridge. No Cattle egrets have arrived back yet. Mid to late March has been their arrival date in the past few years so I half expected them by now. Hopefully they will appear soon and continue their breeding success in the county.

The Green-winged teal extended its stay at Ardley into March. The last time I saw it was on 8th March. It appeared to move on the following week given there weren't any more reports. A pair of Shelduck arrived in the middle of the month and is a decent record as I've not seen them here for a few years. As in previous years a pair of Peregrines are present quite frequently on the ERF building an chimneys. There seems to be some courtship going on but I don't think anything more than that. On a couple of occasions it was amazing to see the male climb into the sky and then stoop near vertically at incredible speed as part of the display. When you see that it becomes clear why they are such proficient predators. Up to four Little Ringed Plovers have stopped off at the Quarry along with a couple of Ringed Plovers. The hope is the quarry will attract some more waders during the spring as it looks far more appealing than the lagoon does currently. 

My first visit of the year to Farmoor came on 16th to see the Rock Pipit present along the causeway. It was quite restless due to the number of walkers and runners who would put it up whenever they passed. It did seek refuge on the pontoons at one point making it a little easier to photograph. My second visit was for the pair of Slavonian grebes but they were about a nautical mile away on F2 so unsatisfying shaky scope views had to suffice. 

It is always nice to get the returning summer migrants and marvel at the journey they've just made. Hopefully numbers will start increasing as it seems a little slow going so far.

Towards the end of the month I saw a Black Redstart out of my garden window on a neighbour's roof. I didn't see it again on subsequent evenings. If it was the same bird that spent time north of Woodstock last autumn, perhaps it was retracing its steps on its spring travels.  

And because I've taken so many photos of the Woodstock Hawfinches I'll end this blog post with a few more.