2024 highlights

All in all, 2024 has been a very enjoyable birding year close to home. Again, agonising close to the 150 species mark (will do it eventually!), finishing on 148, with FIVE new local area birds for me, including a couple of real surprises!

Probably mega of the year has to go to the extraordinary appearance of a drake Eider at Boddington Res, on a warm, calm 15/05! A real inland mega and super chuffed I managed to get over there straight after work, as before long I watched it depart high to the east, disappointing several county listers!

Another wholly unexpected seaduck graced Grimsbury Res throughout a large chunk of November, in the form of two 1st-winter Velvet Scoters. Unsurprisingly an excellent patch tick and while not quite as unusual inland as the Eider, still a real scarcity, particularly at Grimbo!

A 1st-winter Great Northern Diver at Calvert, a singing Quail near Bicester and two juvenile Little Stints at Ardley ERF completed the area ticks during 2024. The Little Stints were particularly memorable and enjoyable, with high hopes one would eventually show up, at what is becoming a reliable wader site each autumn - they also afforded some lovely views too!  

Memorable early 2024 moments included a group of Waxwings in Banbury as part of a long-awaited Waxwing winter - sadly failed to find my own despite much effort! Also Marsh Harrier and Cattle Egret at Bicester Wetland and Rock Pipit at Grimsbury Res.

Spring brought the usual heightened interest. While not mega rare, my highlight was without doubt the two stunning Arctic Terns, that swept into Grimsbury Res on the evening of 09/04. Always a joy to see in spring, I stood there for a good 45 minutes, enjoying them bouncing around the res in lovely evening light. Just magical!

The appearance of an apparent female Canvasback at Ardley ERF lagoon, found by Gareth Casburn, late on the evening of 04/06 was a big surprise to say the least! Gareth and I have discussed it at length both at the time and afterwards and the appearance of a 2cy drake Canvasback in the Netherlands that same week, certainly raised our eyebrows further! But at the end of the day, the provenance can never be certain and not a lot can be done with it. A real splash of excitement all the same!

Other spring / summer notables included a lovely male Ring Ouzel, Red-Crested Pochard and a surprise mid-summer Short-eared Owl at Ardley ERF, Black Tern at Foxcote Res, a self-found Wood Sandpiper, plus Greenshank and Channel Wagtail in the Mid-Cherwell Valley, a couple of brief Kittiwakes and patch tick Grey Partridge at Grimsbury Res, several Firecrest on territory, Grasshopper Warbler and Corn Bunting.

Birding autumn began with wader passage, which produced a good sucession of sightings from July onwards, predominantly at Ardley ERF. This included the juv Little Stints, a juv Wood Sandpiper,  Greenshank, Ruff, a couple of Black-Tailed Godwits, Redshank, Ringed Plover and Dunlin as well as the more expected Little Ringed Plover, Common & Green Sandpiper, Snipe and Lapwing. 

Other autumn / winter species of note included several Whinchat and Wheatear, a juv Arctic Tern at Grimsbury Res, Red-Crested Pochard, Mandarin, Barnacle Goose, Mediterranean Gull, Caspian Gull, Tree Pipit and Merlin from the garden, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret, Merlin, Jack Snipe and Brambling.

A real feature of the autumn, was the number of Hawfinch since the famous 2017 influx. Luckily for me, I managed to get in on the act with a group of 4 high of Grimsbury, plus up to 3 sporadically around the yew trees at Thenford Church.

Birding away from my usual haunts, the standout 2024 highlight by a mile, was the outrageous appearance of the Alpine Accentor at Pitstone Quarry (Bucks) on 05/05. Luckily for me, I was free all day and while I left it a little late, I eventually decided I'd be an idiot not to go! Thankfully, I enjoyed some incredible evening views, as it fed just feet away, having traversed the slightly treacherous decent into the quarry! Having had my fill of this lifer, the heavens opened so I'm glad I hadn't left it any later!  

Gareth B and I plotted a weekend's birding on the east coast for late May, in the hope it may co-incide with a late flurry of scarce migrants.

As it turned out, we did get easterly winds and rain - the problem was the rain was relentless! Kieran Nixon joined us for a crack at Blakeney Point on 25/05. I don't think I've ever had such a soaking while birding! We did at least find our own male Red-Backed Shrike, as well as a second considerably drier bird! 

Gareth and I did also spent some time at Frampton Marsh, countering the Black-Winged Stilt and some lovely 1st-summer Little Gulls up close.

While the Eider was spectacular, another county tick, just a week later, should not be forgotten! This was the female Red-Necked Phalarope that showed up at Lilbourne Meadows, near Rugby on 22/05. I got up there in the evening drizzle and while the views were distant and fairly underwhelming, it was great to see it spinning around, doing it's thing! 

The only ofther Northants notable for me during 2024, was a visit to Summer Leys on 23/10, whereby I caught up with the Glossy Ibis, which was a site tick for me!

Finally, during November, we enjoyed a lovely family break by the Exe Estuary. Being within walking distance of Bowling Green Marsh, it was cool to spend some time from the hide at high tide, seeing the birds streaming in from the estuary. The long-staying Long-Billed Dowitcher showed beautifully, along with a couple of Spotted Redhank and good numbers of commoner waders and wildfowl. Always a fab place to bird!

Spent a brilliant few days in northern Greece with Birding pals Dan Watson and Kieran Nixon during early February.

There were a number of targets with endless trawling of E-bird ahead of the trip, to pin down all the key sites!

We missed out on Wallcreeper and only had probable distant views of the Kerkini Lesser White Fronted Goose flock, but overall, we did amazingly well, with a fab return of 12 new birds for me; more than exceeded my expectations! Those being: Dalmatian Pelican & Great White Pelican at Lake Kerkini, the unexpected sight of well over 100 White-headed Duck on a large lake in the south, a number of encounters with Great Spotted Eagle, Greater Flamingo, several Spur-winged Plover and Slender-billed Gull in Thessiloniki, Armenian Gull at Lake Kerkini, a national rarity, the amazing sights and sounds of Eagle Owl at a quarry in the north, Moustached Warbler, Sombre Tit & several characterful Western Rock Nuthatch found in several quarry sites.

Other highlights included a juv Pallid Harrier flying across the bonnet of the car, wonderful views of a pair of Golden Eagles, loads of Hawfinch, the amazing close-up views of birds like Little Stint, Spoonbill, Greater Flamingos and Black-Necked Grebe at Kalichori Lagoon in Thessiloniki, regular sightings of Hen Harrier, lovely views of a Goshawk sat in the river drinking, the impressive numbers of Corn Bunting and being surrounded by the eerie howls of Golden Jackals! 

Had a lovely, sunny family holiday to Tenerife during March. Not a birding holiday, however I did ensure I got us up into the hills for a family picnic, to allow me to track down some Blue Chaffinch, which I have to say was one of my favourite birds of the year! 

The other new bird for me was Canary Island Chiffchaff which were everywhere, while new subspecies included teneriffae African Blue Tit and canariensis Great Spotted Woodpecker. I also had bonkers views of a Hoopoe, Pallid Swift, Cory's Shearwater, lots of Atlantic Canaries, Night Heron, Sardinian Warbler, Spanish Sparrow, African-type Collared Dove, Peregrine, Azorean Yellow-Legged Gull and Nanday Parakeets among other things! 

It was a very poor year for butterflies, with numbers alarmingly low and certain species extremely hard to track down. For example, it was the first year since moving onto our house in Brackley back in 2012, that I failed to see a garden Small Tortoiseshell. 

On a positive front, I saw Green Hairstreak at Ardley ERF for the first time and I also enjoyed some lovely, albeit brief views of several Black Hairstreak at Hewin's Wood, Bucks, before the sun disappeared!

While Marbled Whites were clearly down on number compared to previous years, they were still easy to find locally and always a pleasure to see! I failed to coincide any free time with any sunny weather during late June-July and so missed out on the woods and Purple Emperor season this year which was a bit of a shame, but there's always next year!

Other pics from 2024...