My 2015 Highlights: A taste for patching

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!

Pallid magic

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, a great 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...

Patch Brent!

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.

Grey Phalarope & GNDs

On Saturday (28/11), with the weather looking clear & bright early on, I decided to drive the 35 minutes or so to Farmoor Reservoir close to Oxford, to enjoy a favourite of mine, a Grey Phalarope that had thankfully hung around all week. With the addition of the long-staying Red Necked Grebe on offer too, it was well worth a look.

I arrived at pretty much dead on 8am and within a minute of leaving the car, I was enjoying fabulous close-range views of the Grey Phalarope in the NE corner of F2. It was, as expected very busy, constantly on the move feeding mainly on small food items, however did catch itself a sizable stickleback at one point. After a while, it disappeared towards the causeway so I decided to walk a circuit of F2 on what was a very cold but bright morning

  

The walk produced very little of note other than a single Little Egret, however the light was nice...

It had now clouded over and had become flipping freezing! A scan for the Red-Necked Grebe on F2 was fruitless, however I soon picked it out distantly in the centre of F1, chilling with a handful of Great Crested Grebes. Before I left I also had one last fix of the Phalarope, this time mid-way along the causeway on the F2 side. Again it showed amazingly well despite the constant harassment from photographers, pretty much getting in the water with it! It was then time to head home for a cuppa & a bit of Soccer Saturday.

Yesterday, (Sunday 29/11) I joined up with Gareth Blockley & Dan Watson for a bit of Warwickshire birding, a new experience for me! Late morning, in cloudy & insanely windy conditions, we gave Draycote Water a go, surprisingly my first ever visit there. Towards Toft Bay, A Great Northern Diver was on show distantly and both drake & Redhead Goosander were seeing flying about.

A walk the other way towards Rainbow Corner didn't produce a great deal of variety, however we managed to get some excellent views of the other 2 Great Northern Divers, both juveniles that have been present for at least a week or so.

  





















The finished the day at Dan's patch, Weston Lane Landfill site between Leamington & Coventry for a bit of 'gulling'. Despite our best efforts, we failed to get onto anything decent but will certainly be back! Best birds were a brief 1st-winter Yellow-Legged Gull, 2-3 Green Sandpiper, tonnes of Raven around the tip & a flyover Redpoll sp. 

Danish wanderer

A visit to Grimsbury Reservoir during my lunch break on Monday (23/11) actually produced something of interest!

Amongst the usual small gathering of Black Headed Gulls, I was pleased to catch up with the Danish-ringed bird (VK40) Gareth had previously discovered on the 5th November. A really interesting record! I also had the first Goosanders (2 females) of the winter and a flyover Redpoll sp.

Northants wander about

On Sunday (22/11) I took Gareth for a small tour of some Northants sites with the hope as always of finding something good.

A stroll around Summer Leys was planned first, but we did first pop into Delapre Lake (or Hardingstone GP if you prefer), always worth a check. Nothing really of note though other than the usual gathering of Gadwall, a couple of Wigeon and a few flyover Siskin.

Summer Leys was cold but bathed in a fair bit of sunshine on arrival. Best birds initially were a female Stonechat around the scrape, a squealing Water Rail, an Egyptian Goose & my first Goldeneye, a drake on the main lake.

Moving to the other side of the reserve, the Great White Egret was to the right of Paul Britten Hide, with shocking views only, through thick scrub. A Little Egret was also nearby and several Siskin were in the area. A walk further round to Mary's Lake produced 4 Pintail, always a nice bird to see in Northants, with their appearance often rather sporadic.

Next, we moved on to the reserve end of Pitsford Reservoir, north of the causeway. Scanning from the feeding station produced a further 2 Great White Egrets around the mouth of the Walgrave Bay. We walked down to the Scaldwell Bay to have a closer look and to try out the new hide which I have to say is pretty impressive.

Birds from here or very closeby included Green Sandpiper, Redshank, Shelduck, 5 Pintail and excellent numbers of Wigeon & Gadwall. A Fox was wandering along the far shore of the bay, as were a couple of foraging Muntjacks. A flock of 9 Goldeneye appeared on the walk back, while the feeding station produced the usual Tree Sparrows & Yellowhammers.

A quick visit to the dam end, more for sustenance then anything lead to a very nice Bacon, Brie & cranberry baguette (with an unexpected, yet welcome portion of wedges!) from the country park cafe. A scan from the dam was fruitless, so we finished the last bit of daylight at Blueberry Farm, near Maidwell for a dart at Short Eared Owls.
Turned out to be a really good visit, particularly as good mates David James & Simon Hales were on site. In between the chat and laughs, a single Short Eared Owl (Dave James's video below) showed well at times, together with a Barn Owl and a fly-through Peregrine. Great end to the day.

Severn seabirds

At the end of last week, myself, Gareth Blockley & Dan Watson had been plotting a trip out somewhere. With westerly gales forecast for Saturday night and Sunday morning, Gareth's idea to head to Severn Beach seemed a shrewd move, with a very good chance of particularly Leach's Petrel and Skuas.

So, first thing on Sunday 15/11, we set off, stopping briefly at Gloucester services en-route. Twitter provided encouraging news of a Leach's already having gone past Severn Beach, excellent! On we went, getting good views of a Merlin unexpectedly zipping across the M5 near Tewkesbury. We arrived at the little village of Severn Beach in heavy winds (around 50mph according to the forecast).

We got our stuff together, before purposefully making our way to the shoreline, full of optimism! There were plenty of birders about and we soon got news of a Leach's a short way further east along the seawall, close to the bridge. It wasn't long before I got onto it busily flying around low to the choppy Severn waters. My first Leach's Petrel...wey hey!! After a couple of minutes it began to come closer...& closer...& closer, to the point where at speed, it shot over the heads of the several assembled birders and crashed into scrub the other side of the sea wall. Oh bugger!

Dan and another guy, a mate of Gareth's, headed into the bushes to take a look. After a few minutes, Gareth's mate re-appeared with the bird safely in his hand. He found it a little stunned sitting on the ground under the bushes. It was unsurprisingly a little shaken, but appeared undamaged and importantly alive. Pheww!

After a short bit of deliberation, the bird was passed onto local birder Paul Bowerman, who has plenty of previous experience in taking care of exhausted seabirds, living where he does. Into a shoe box it went and away to his house. It turned out the bird was 10 grams under weight, so was to be fed-up and hopefully released the following day.

So, on with the birding! The wind was pretty savage and soon sent my scope/tripod flying, much to my horror. Thankfully it was alright, but annoyingly has caused slight damage to the eyepiece...f**k it! 

We set ourselves up under the seawall, largely out of the wind and began scouring the water. Increasing numbers of Kittiwakes were gathering offshore, totalling as many as 80 birds. Streams of Curlews headed west fairly regularly, as well as a few Turnstone. An adult Med Gull then flew around for a bit too.

A little while later, we caught sight of a bird flying east not too far offshore, probably just a Teal I thought before getting my bins on it. At the same moment my mind told me "that's no Teal", Dan shouted Black Guillemot! Flipping hell it was too, turning as it approached the bridge, showing it's frosty plumage & big white wing panels. How mega was that! Such an unusual bird for the area (later we found to be the 3rd ever!). While the numbers of birds weren't massive, the quality was pretty damn good! The boys were buzzing for it!

We took a wander under the bridge and a little further east towards Northwick Warth in an attempt to re-locate the Guillemot. But no luck, just tonnes of Wigeon and another lone Kittiwake.

With the tide swiftly heading out, our chances of further seabirds was probably diminishing, however we decided to give it one more go, while at the same time having a chat with the locals, a real friendly bunch. This turned out to be a good move as our second Leach's Petrel appeared a fair way offshore. It came a bit closer and we watched it darting around for a bit, ducking and weaving away from a local Herring Gull on it's tail!

A few minutes later it, or probably another was picked up very distantly over the water, this time with a good 20 big gulls chasing it. This one was probably doomed unfortunately! A lone Kittiwake then performed very well (below) very close to the seawall 

We were just about to head off to try somewhere different when Dan picked up a distant Skua. It quickly became clear it was a Great Skua, slowly but surely coming closer. An adult, it was soon joined by a second bird, a first year. They ended up flying right over our heads and off inland roughly south-east. Cool!

Furthermore, a juvenile Gannet headed strongly up river soon after. It was all happening! We waited a little longer, but nothing further happened. So, we drove the short distance east to Northwick Warth and Pilning Wetlands.

Here, there were tonnes of Wigeon along the river shore, as well as a handful of Black Tailed Godwit, Curlews, Redshanks, Dunlin and a single Oystercatcher. A large boggy area between the river and Pilning wetland held lots of Pipits and Pied Wagtails. Sadly we couldn't track down the hoped for Water Pipit, however there was a single Rock Pipit in with the numerous Meadows. A pair of Stonechat were also seen nearby.

The main purpose of our visit here was the Glossy Ibis, present for a little while now. We got on the bird fairly promptly, watching it strutting about, actively feeding. This was in fact only my third Glossy so nice to see! 

To be honest, that was pretty much it for the day. We had a bit of a look around nearby Aust Warth in the hope we may encounter a late after Short Eared Owl, however it was just too windy. But what a flipping quality day it'd had been!