Whilst working in Banbury for the past couple of years, I've been paying regular visits to Grimsbury Reservoir, on the edge of town. During 2015, these regular visits have grown into full-on, mildly obsessive patching, together with local birder Gareth Blockley.
This has been the first time I've patched somewhere constantly for a long period of time. It's been highly addictive, great fun and only improved my birding. The year has also shown that no matter how unassuming a site can seem, if you put the hours in, you will find some great stuff!
As a patch it's ideal. You can do a quick circuit of the site in under an hour, ideal for a swift look round in your lunch break for example. It also has a wide range of habitat, with the main concrete-sided reservoir, the river along it's eastern edge, a small wood at the northern end, plenty of scrub, a large cattle field & several hedgerows. The one problem there is at Grimsbury is the disturbance. The site is very popular with dog walkers, joggers, fishermen & sailing. So you really need patience and the luck to be in the right place at the right time. On the whole, things just don't tend to stick around for too long unfortunately!
There have been many highlights for me, including 2 separate Kittiwakes, a migrating Osprey, juvenile Brent Goose, Black Redstart, Siberian Chiffchaff, a total of 6 Black Tern (including a flock of 5 birds), Arctic Tern, migrant Redstarts, Whinchats & Wheatears, Stonechat, Mediterranean Gull, Greenshank, Black Tailed Godwit as well as regular Willow Tit & Peregrine...to name but a few!
The nearby Upper Cherwell Valley & Borrow Pit Pool by the M40 have also unearthed some great local records including a lovely autumn Wood Sandpiper, a fly-through Marsh Harrier seen by Gareth, a couple of lingering Tree Pipits & 3 long-staying Whinchat.
I have to say, one of the beauties of patching is the excitement you get out of seeing even the most familiar species. Catching up with a Mistle Thrush this year was a real challenge and it was a great moment of relief & ecstasy when I did finally see one in late September!! To date, I'm still missing species such as Pheasant, Yellowhammer & Red Kite, species locally that are pretty routine fare but for Grimsbury, infrequent. That's the draw and excitement of patching, you just never know what you will & won't see!
Patching can also unearth other unexpected surprises. The reservoir tends to have a regular bunch of loafing Black Headed Gulls. Gareth has recently picked out several colour-ringed birds, providing some real interest. Of particular note was an individual from Lithuania, as well the bird below, (VK40) originally ringed as a chick on the island of Hirsholm, off the east coast of Denmark, some 973km away! I managed to catch up with it on 23/11.
The collective 2015 patch list stands at an impressive 126 species. With 9 days of the year to go, the chances of reaching 130 are slim, however what will 2016 bring? I'm very looking forward to finding out!
A juvenile Pallid Harrier has been in situ for some time now at Snettisham RSPB, Norfolk The temptation had become too great, and so at the back end of last week, I arranged to go for it together with my good birding pals Dave James & Gareth Blockley.
We set off in the drizzly, early Sunday (13/12) morning darkness. Driving through the fens, the sight of pretty dense fog was a little concerning. However, having passed through King Lynn, conditions cleared nicely and in fact, it appeared to be a pretty nice morning.
We arrived at around 09:15am to be greeted with jam-packed car park. However, we soon found a space and before long, were trudging off on the long walk to the southern end of the reserve, past the beach chalets, pools and bird-laden mudflats. The tide was very much out and the mud was littered with hundreds of Shelduck, the odd swirling mass of Knot and the air was full of the calls of both Golden & Grey Plovers. Several Pintail flew by while 1 or 2 Goldeneye could be seen feeding on the reserve pools.
At the far southern end, we joined a line of birders up on a bank looking across the area supposedly favoured by the Pallid. The bird had last been seen some 15 minutes previous (as always!) but had disappeared behind another bank. Scanning about in the hazy sunshine soon revealed birds with 3+ Marsh Harrier cruising about and a distant 1st-year Spoonbill out on the saltmarsh preening. Regular, vocal groups of Pink Footed Geese headed inland and a couple of Egyptian Geese flew through.
Around 45 minutes had passed us by, before we were awoken from our slumber by a nice ringtail Hen Harrier that flew past us purposefully, out onto the saltmarsh. A Great White Egret then appeared not too far away from the Spoonbill, and continually appeared and then disappeared again, unsettled by the presence of a roaming cream-crown Marsh Harrier! We had accumulated a very decent supporting cast, but so far no star of the show!
Thankfully, that soon changed as the Pallid Harrier suddenly appeared flying strongly across the grassy area in front of us, swooping briefly at some waders and showing off those bright orangey underparts, diagnostic collar and really nice distinctive barring on the tail. It soon dropped down into vegetation and out of sight, however around 20 minutes later it was up again and gave a fabulous display. It landed briefly in the top of a bush before hunting a small area for several minutes affording incredible scope views. I didn't manage any pics/video but Dave managed to get some great footage of what was a lifer for all of us (view at 1080hp).
The small size of the bird was quite noticeable and while hunting, very agile for a Harrier, almost Accipiter-like.
The bird went down again for a while and appeared one last time, before heading off over the bank. Our queue to leave!
Two-thirds of the way back to the car, a passing birder casually informed us of 2 Waxwings a little further along the path feeding on berries. Ummm...awesome!! Sure enough, we were shown a rather distant alder tree and there in the top were two stunning Waxwings, my first for what seems like ages. Thankfully they soon relocated to scrub close by and afforded great views, all be it in very gloomy light. What an unexpected treat!
The shout then went up of a Rough-Legged Buzzard from a guy looking out towards the wash...it was all kicking off! The others went over to take a look, but I continued to enjoy the Waxwings for a little while longer. Eventually, I went and had a look. Gareth got me onto the bird. To say it was distant was an understatement, could've been a plastic bag for all I'd have known! The guy who found it though, had seen it fly in and had seen all the features. It was sat on the edge of the saltmarsh and I could just about make out at x60 a cream-headed buzzard-shaped spec sat there. As hard as it was, we dragged ourselves away from here and the Waxwings as it was 1pm. Time was pressing and we had other things to see!
We had two more places to try before heading for home. Next was the Choseley Drying Barns area for better views of RLB, before hopefully finishing at Thornham for Shore Lark & Twite. Fingers crossed there'd be enough time!
It took us around 25 minutes to get over to Choseley. We slowly crawled up the lane to the barns, scanning for anything resembling a RLB. On reaching the barns at the top of the hill, we noticed several birders at the bottom of the slope, south of the barns.
We got down there and no sooner had I parked up, over came a lovely Rough-Legged Buzzard! We quickly piled out of the car getting good views as the bird headed west and eventually out of sight.
We were told of another that had been showing to the east. A few minutes later, Dave picked this bird up distantly on the horizon soaring about, getting hammered by one or two of the local corvids in the process! It showed for a while but it had begun raining so we retired to the car for a coffee and we then drove back west to Thornham.
From the car park at Thornham, we set off along the coastal path to the east end of Holme Dunes. It was still pretty gloomy with a steady fine drizzle, however on we went! The beach on the northern side of the dunes was where we headed for. Here, looking for the Shore Larks, we stumbled across a very confiding trio of Snow Buntings, agreat added bonus! As with all my vids, view at 1080hp!
Moving further along the beach, it wasn't long before we found the 3 Shore Lark, a bird all three of us hadn't seen for a good five years or so. Propper little characters and I'd forgotten have fast they can scuttle along! We enjoyed these for a fair while, before moving further round the beach for a stab and finding some Twite.
Surprisingly quickly, we found some finches, all Linnets moving about on the edge of the saltmarsh. However, another small flock of 10-15 appeared soon after, containing those diagnostic twanging calls of Twite!
What a day it had been!! Brilliant views of the Pallid, which I have to say, was a stunning looking bird. We also dipped literally nothing and had the added bonuses of the Waxwings & Snow Buntings. What a fitting way to end such a memorable day...
Last week, I made my regular lunchtime visit to Grimsbury on Thursday (03/12), not expecting to find anything too dramatic. However this was soon thrown out of the window as scanning through a large flock of around 80 local Canada Geese on the water, there in the middle was a juvenile Dark-Bellied Brent Goose!! Now I think it is fair to say, this was a super patch mega, later finding out from Gareth Blockley that it was only the 3rd site record & first since January 1988!
It was a bit of a bumper visit, as soon after a Dunlin began calling and I soon picked it up landing briefly before flying off east. Almost immediately, a Peregrine then flew north. It was all happening!
The next day, Friday (04/12), another lunchtime visit failed to deliver the Brent again, despite there being between 150-200 Canadas present. A Raven heading north was my first of the year here though and there was also a calling Chiffchaff.
