The long, hot days of high summer are almost with us and traditionally considered the ‘dog days’ for bird watchers.

Actually, this can be a time of great interest as a variety of complex scenarios unfold and we should ignore this time at our peril.

Our local breeding birds are extremely busy with juveniles recently fledged and roaming hedges, woods and lanes in noisy family parties.

With patience, it’s often one of the best times to catch sight of whitethroat, lesser whitethroat and garden warbler as mum and dad shepherd their young, who are learning about the big wide world for the first time. Early and successful breeders will be settled in to second broods, so some adults will be busy fetching and carrying food for newly hatched young. We should be particularly watchful for spotted flycatchers at this time, those traditional latecomers to our woods and gardens.

Our lakes, pits and reservoirs will host a variety of families in all sizes, and this is the perfect time to watch great crested grebes giving a piggy-back to their stripy chicks and using that extraordinary dagger-like bill to feed tiny tidbits oh so carefully.

But nature’s coin has two sides and we begin to see the first trickles of the return wader passage through Otmoor, Farmoor and if it retains water at this time, Port Meadow.

Some of the first through will be young, non-breeding birds and their summer plumaged cousins who failed to pair up on the breeding grounds, possibly in mixed groups enabling us to compare their dress codes.

Black tailed godwits and dunlin, pictured, wearing wonderful blacks, golds, brick reds and sparkling colours of failed breeders are in stark contrast to the dull grey-browns and off-whites of juveniles, both having made momentous journeys only to experience disappointment, at least for this year. Their time will come again. The sands of our birding year begin to run back, so take to the field and use this period of change to enjoy, learn and marvel at the complexity of our bird life.

Keith Clack