A venture north

I was on my tod for much of the weekend, so I decided to venture to north Northants to try out a few areas I rarely get a chance to bird.

So having set off early, Saturday (18/02) morning, I began birding areas E of Oundle. A quick look at a small bit of flood by the River Nene, near Polebrook produced a small flock of Wigeon & Teal.

Polebrook Aifield is to my mind, pretty underwatched and always worth a look. A few recent reports of a ringtail Hen Harrier here, were enough to entice me there for a look. As it turned out, the place was pretty quiet, however I did come across a pair of Stonechat and the relatively mild weather got the local Skylarks and a couple of male Reed Buntings into song.

Next I headed over towards the Fotheringhay area, north of Oundle, to see if I could find any floods. I soon though became distracted by a large bunting flock just off the A605, west of Warmington. It was an impressive flock of c200 birds comprising roughly two thirds Yellowhammer & one third Reed Bunting. Despite my best efforts, I failed to muster that dream Little or Pine Bunting, however I did manage to locate a bit of a county mega in the form of a Corn Bunting that sat in a roadside tree for a few minutes and a little later, appeared in the adjacent hedge too. Full marks to the farmer for leaving such a bird-friendly strip!

I carried onto Fotheringhay and a quick stop by the river there produced a brief of fly-by Mandarin. With nothing else to try in the area, I decided to drive back past Oundle, to Titchmarsh / Thrapston GPs for a good walk around the reserve. It's a pretty great site, with a nice mix of habitat and several hides. It was a long while since I last visited and it is a shame I live so far away as I'd certainly visit more often if I could.

A full circuit of the reserve didn't produce anything too spectacular, however I did see a single Great White Egret, a pair of Red Crested Pochard, several Goosander, a pair of Oystercatcher, tonnes of wildfowl in general, particularly Wigeon, several Little Egret, a couple of Cetti's Warbler and a few Siskin.

That took me through to mid afternoon and being quite a long way from home, I began to wend my way back south, popping into Wootton, just off the A45 at Northampton, for a quick look at the Waxwings that had been around for a few days. I soon caught sight of around 20 of the flock sat in a roadside tree, however there wasn't really anywhere to stop and the road was pretty busy, so I settled for a slow drive-by view, before carrying on.

With the light on my side, I decided to take a rather large diversion back home via the Boddington Res gull roost. By Boddington standards, it wasn't a particularly big roost and the number of big gulls was significantly reduced from my last visit. Nonetheless, I managed to pick out a 1w Med Gull, my first of the year, so a pretty worthwhile visit in the end. An adult Yellow-Legged Gull also appeared, 7 Goosander came into roost and it was cool to see a hunting Barn Owl in the near darkness close to the car park.

The next day, Sunday 19/02, I didn't do too much birding really, however I did pop out for a little to check on a handful of local sites. A couple of Grey Partridge was a nice surprise near to Croughton Quarry, along with 7 Snipe and there were also a further 7 Snipe in a boggy area just SW of Radstone. I lastly had a look at the gulls over near Chacombe. Further good numbers were on show, however I didn't manage to find much more than a 3cy YLG and a couple of 1w GBBGs.

Birds of the sleet & snow

This weekend has had a particularly bleak feel to it, full of wintery showers & heavy cloud.

I still though, braved the conditions for much of Saturday, coming away with a few nice birds. I spent much of Saturday morning doing the Grimsbury Res & Upper Cherwell Valley circuit with Gareth. The res was fairly quiet with just a male Goosander, however the wood hosted both Marsh & Willow Tit, while one of the fields adjacent to the M40 held a female Stonechat, a Snipe & star of the show, a single Jack Snipe, my first in the upper Cherwell area.

I then went on to join Dan for another Warwickshire stint, mainly for gulls again, south of Coventry. We started near to Dan's at Compton Verney near Kineton for a quick look at the lake. A pair of Red Crested Pochard here were nice to see & unexpected.

On then to Ryton Pools / Bubbenhall area for a mooch about for white-wingers. We were soon in luck, as Dan picked out a big old 1w Glaucous Gull amongst large numbers of gulls in a roadside field. A 1w Caspian Gull was also closeby.

A visit to Ryton Pools, just around the corner produced possibly another (?) 1w Glaucous Gull, as well as 4w & 3w YLGs. By which time, the extremities were feeling flipping frozen and we were both happy to leave.

Before departing the area, we popped 5 minutes up the road to attempt to connect with a flock of Waxwings that had been about for a few days. After a short drive about, we came across thirty birds sat in a tree in the middle of Wolston, SE of Coventry. They were clearly pretty keen to come down to a nearby bush, groaning with berries. The only problem was the local Mistle Thrush had other ideas, guarding it at all costs! After 15 minutes or so they decided to head off and so we followed suit.

Dan headed home afterwards and I, after a bit of umming and ahhing decided to finish my day for a look at the Boddington gull roost. On the way there, between Kineton & Edgehill, I peeled off the B4086 near to Arlescote. I was then confronted by the bizarre sight of a Woodcock sat in the middle of the road, in broad daylight! I stopped, astounded by what was in front of me and reached for my phone to grab a pic, only to catch sight of a car in my mirrors coming up behind me, bugger! I inched forward and the bird slowly waddled off into the roadside ditch. I turned around further up the road and returned, however failed to relocate it. A shame, but wow, by far my best ever view of a Woodcock!! Hopefully it hadn't previously been hit by a car and was just simply a particularly dozy bird!

The Boddington roost certainly pulled in a large number of birds, particularly Common Gulls, however i failed to find anything unusual. Two roosting Little Egrets were the only birds slightly notable.

Peak District

Across Saturday 04/02 and Sunday 05/02, I spent some time in the Peak District with friends Dave, Jon & Kirsty looking for among other things, Mountain Hares.

Before being asked by Dave to go, I had absolutely no idea a population of Mountain Hares existed outside of Scotland. It turns out they were originally released into the Peak District during the 1870s for shooting. A now large and sustainable population has since sprung up from there.

So, we headed up early on Saturday 04/02. Eventually, we wove our way through the pleasant surroundings of Glossop on the edge of the Peak District and SE of Manchester. This was also to be our base for the Saturday night.

From Glossop, we took the route known as Snake Pass which climbs steeply up into the moors and beyond. It was a really beautiful day with clear skies and bright sunshine. But to really cap it off, the moors and peaks alongside snake pass were covered in a stunning blanket of snow...wow, how lucky were we!

As beautiful as it was out there, it hasn't half cold! Having wrapped up super warm, we began our walk up into the moors, soon seeing the first of many Red Grouse close to the road. Their calls are just fantastic and never fail to put a smile on my face. The classic sound of upland moorlands too.

Our main quarrel though were the Mountain Hares and we soon found plenty of tracks meandering through the snow. Surely it wouldn't be long before we found one.

Sure enough, out of nowhere one appeared from a short way in front of us and zoomed off at lightening speed, vanishing a little way ahead of us. What a beautiful animal it was. I had seen one years ago up in the Highlands, however the memory is a vague one. This one was a lot bigger than I seem to remember and in fact seemed pretty chunky. If this was the type of view we were going to get, photos were going to be tricky, however we were all really pleased to have connected with one fairly quickly.

We had number of other, similar hare sightings before reaching a high point called Higher Shelf Stones. Here rests the eerie sight of a plane crash site, explained in the image below.

The scenery was utterly fantastic and we sat up here for a while sunning ourselves and admiring the view.

We had another further wander around in some new areas for Mountain Hare and again gained a number of fleeting sighting though always brief and never stationary! We also came across a number of Golden Plover, the odd Raven and again, plenty of Red Grouse.

We slowly made our way back to the car, with the snow melting rapidly under the lovely, hot sun. It was a relatively uneventful walk other than all of us, at some point slipping over on the porridge-like peat at various points. Both Dave and Jon also nearly losing a leg a sizable peaty crater!

Before we travelled back down to Glossop, we spent a bit more time enjoying some of the local Red Grouse, one in particular proved to be very obliging!

After that, it off back down to Glossop to our hotel, some food and a few beers!

The next day, (Sunday 05/02) was pretty chilled. We headed off mid-morning after a big old fry up and took a route through the heart of the Peak district towards the SE corner of the national park. Here was the now famous village of Beeley, home to the overwintering Dusky Thrush which myself Dan & Gareth enjoyed back in early December.

The others were yet to see it so we went for a look. The sun was out went we left Glossop, however in Beeley it was far more grey & dank unfortunately! We spent a good couple of hours looking, however sadly only connected with Redwings and a frustratingly brief view of what may have been the Dusky. The highlight here were a skein of 126 Pink Footed Geese heading high to the NW, presumably on their long journey back towards Iceland.

By way of consolation we gave the adjacent River Derwent a go for Dipper and after a little while, we connected with an obliging bird, sat singing away from a riverside rock, more than making up for missing the Dusky.  

It was then time to gradually make our way back south. A fab weekend, with some great company. Thanks again for Jon, Kirsty & Dave for getting me along, and to Kirsty for driving us everywhere!

Work Waxwings

Last Monday (30/01), I was lucky enough to chance upon several vocal Waxwings high up in a tree, adjacent to where I work in Mewburn Road, Banbury. Unfortunately, I didn't chance on them again during the rest of the week.

However, on Friday (03/02), Mike Pollard discovered 8 (presumably the same birds as before) in a cul-de-sac, no more than 300m away from Mewburn Road as the Waxwing flies!

I popped out of work during the afternoon for a look and was pleased to connect with them as they sat in the pouring rain on a TV aerial. They were also coming down to a white berry bush closeby.

Mike later noticed that one of the birds was ringed and he is awaiting news of exactly where. Presumably as part of the Scottish ringing schemes that have been taking place. You can just make out that the bird in question is the one on the far right, in the picture below.

Little...or no Bunting

A surprise Little Bunting was discovered on farmland close to Over Norton near to Chipping Norton, on Sunday 22/01. Having seen it being reported all week, myself, Gareth & Dan earmarked the morning of Saturday 28/01 to hopefully see it.

Before meeting up, I paid my usual respects to the gull gathering just west of Chacombe. Plenty of birds about, but only managed to pick out a 1w Yellow-Legged Gull, before a big female Peregrine piled through, after Woodpigeons and Stock Doves. Needless to say the gulls didn't hang around!

Onward then to the bunting. We parked up in Over Norton and took the muddy footpath & track to the bird-friendly farmland site.

On arrival, we were told it had been seen that morning, but only once. So we might be in for a bit of a wait! The spot was in fact by the side of a public footpath and was part of a mini project by the farmer to attract birds to the scattered seeds and feeders. Over the course of a good couple of hours, there were plenty of Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and Chaffinches, as well as several Brambling, including a very smart male. 16 Golden Plover headed over and a couple of Raven could be seen cruising about and displaying too. However, our little eastern friend failed to show. But...that's just the way it can go sometimes.

With a bit of time still spare, we decided to take the 20 minute drive on to Stow-on-the-Wold for a look at the Blue Rock Thrush, as Gareth as he had yet to catch up with it! It would also be a decent consolation for the group dip! For both Dan & I, it would be our second look. In fact old 'twitchy toes' Dan was one of the first load of people to see it on the day news first came out!

It took a bit of finding but eventually, we had some really lovely views, even enjoying a little bit of brief sun too! It was then home time and some food!

Glaucous Gull

Again a fair bit of birding across 21/01 & 22/01. Firstly, on the Saturday, I teamed up with Gareth for a thorough look around Grimsbury Reservoir and the nearby Upper Cherwell Valley in the early morning gloom

There wasn't anything particularly outrageous, however we did see a male Peregrine appear out of the fog as well as a Nuthatch and a few Teal up in the valley. Nice morning to be out though.

We had a look for gulls near Chacombe, however rather surprisingly there were none! So we finished our rounds with a drive around Banbury looking for Waxwings. Incredibly, after probably no more than a minute of devising the Waxwing plan, Gareth spotted one sat in a roadside tree on the edge of a housing estate. Madness!

I quickly threw the car around the roundabout up ahead and headed back. It was still there on the return, so I drove into the estate for a closer look. We soon found the right road and ended up enjoying some lovely views (albeit minus the forecast sun!) of the Waxwing for a good 15-20 minutes as it sat in a silver birch doing a mixture of preening and pooing (9 in total!) It then flew out of sight but didn't appear to have gone very far. We couldn't however relocate it but hey-ho, we couldn't really complain.

The next day was a very cold, but stunningly clear, still and bright day. I spent much of the day birding with Dan in southern Warwickshire. Before I headed over to meet up with him, a check of the gulls near Chacombe, produced an adult Caspian Gull, Yellow-Legged Gull & a nice surprise Tree Sparrow. A quick peek at Grimsbury Reservoir produced a pair of Wigeon.

I met up with Dan in Kineton and he took me to the delightful surroundings of the local sewage works. But actually, it was very much a worthwhile visit, with lovely views of the classic-looking, grey and white Siberian Chiffchaff that he had found a few weeks previously. Getting a photo of a flitty phylosc with my bridge camera is decidedly difficult, hence my best photo (below) is poor at best! You can see what it is though.

Another bird present, a pale-legged individual also appeared to possibly be of eastern origin, however exhibited less classic plumage tones and also failed to call. It was however pretty washed out in colour, had quite a bold supercilium and was noticeably different from the several other collybita also present.

Next stop was Ryton Pools, just south of Coventry for a bit of Gulling. Both myself and particularly Dan, never need too much encouragement to have a look at gulls and this day was no exception! I was hoping to see my first white-wingers of the winter and with pretty regular sightings from the area in recent days, we were in with a good chance.

There were plenty of birds to go through, however despite a few decent birds, we were unlucky not to get any Icelands or Glaucs. We did however gain brief views of a striking leucistic Herring Gull in a nearby field, looking almost pure white! On the pools, we managed to pick out both 1w & 2w Caspian Gulls which is always nice. The 1w was particularly cool as it had a yellow ring, reading 'X198', showing that it was of German origin. I've e-mailed the ringer and await the details.

We then planned to finish the day at Boddington Reservoir for a further fix of gulls, with the vain hope we might find a white winger with an decent influx in the past couple of weeks. 

The speed at which we got over there increased somewhat, with the gripping news from Gareth, that an adult Glaucous Gull had turned up in fields just outside Banbury, near Chacombe; a great find by Mike Pollard. See Mike's account here: http://heartofenglandnature.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/chacombe-glaucous-gull.html

This was good news, however sods law for me slightly, as I'd been checking the gulls there for a while looking for something good. The moment I leave the area to look for white wingers the Glauc turns up! That is just the way it goes sometimes!

Boddington was probably our best bet to see the bird and so eagerly made our way there. we were soon joined by Ian Dobson, Mike Pollard and Gareth too. It was a big roost and after a bit of effort we managed to pick out a nice 1w Caspian Gull. The light was getting pretty tricky, however at the 11th hour, an adult white winger plonked down in my scope view. It was indeed the Glaucous Gull. Get in! A super scarce bird for our area and a Boddington first for me (a shoddy iphone-scoped photo below in what little light was left!).




Great views of a Barn Owl on the way home topped off a great weekends birding!