The Wyre Forest

The Wyre Forest is somewhere I've had on my mind to visit for the last couple of years, simply because, it's less than an hour and a half away and particularly in May, offers the chance to see several fab woodland bird species on their breeding grounds - most of which are only occasionally encountered on passage in our area.

That, coupled with a seemingly thriving colony of Pearl-Bordered Fritillaries, meant that it was somewhere that had to be done!

So with the weather set to be sunny throughout Sunday 12/05, I decided to give the Wyre a go, joined by fellow birder Dylan, who luckily knew his way around from visiting the forest before.

We arrived around 10am and began walking along the old railway line, quickly encountering the brilliant shivering song of a male Wood Warbler, singing pretty much non-stop around his chosen territory. 



We wandered on, encountering our first Tree Pipit characteristically song-flighting and then foraging in some nearby leaf litter. A sun-lit bank further on, looked to be the place for the Pearl-Bordered Fritillaries and low and behold, we were soon seeing quite a few, already warmed up but the morning sun, busying about.











We carried on the planned circuit, heading back down along the Dowle's Brook. Before we did, we encountered a very timid and fresh Pearl-Bordered Fritillary, presumably having not long emerged. A proper treat!









The Dowles Brook area was certainly the most productive in terms of variety, with singing Redstart, plus more Wood Warblers, Tree Pipit, Cuckoo & a Marsh Tit.







The brook also produced several sightings of Dipper - this included a characterful juvenile bird, hiding away awaiting it's next feed. Both it and the adult had been rung.









We headed up a steep incline behind Knowles Mill, to a really nice bit of largely Oak woodland, adorned with lots of nestboxes. It was here, after a bit of searching, that we found the only Pied Flycatcher of the day - a singing male. It was fairly brief and not all that close, but still cracking to see! A Wood Warbler was singing it's little heart out here too, as was a beautiful male Redstart which, after a while, we realised was also 'toing and froing' from a nest hole up in a nearby Oak, together with a female too.

There was one last treat in store before we left, with two separate encounters with a day-flying Tawny Owl, providing amazing views as we just stood open-mouthed, as it flew past. It's pretty rare to see a sunlight Tawny (!), really allowing you to appreciate what a lovely rich colour they are!

It was then time to get back to the car, rest the legs and head for a home. A wicked day with some tip-top company!

The Rumper returns!

As the sightings of the Red-Rumped Swallow diminished to nothing, following the weekend, it appeared it had unsurprisingly moved on.

So on the wet and gloomy morning of Wednesday 08/05, it came as some surprise when scanning through a handful of hirundines on the western perimeter fence, there in all it's glory, was once again the Red-Rumped Swallow!!

It has since hung around and though brief, again appeared this evening for a 10 minute fly about, before floating off over it's favoured cattle field and out of sight. It has been a bloody treat to have such prolonged opportunities to enjoy such a rare on stunning bird on a daily basis, getting familiar with it's characteristics - I've become pretty adept with picking it out with the naked eye!





It's been a decent week overall and although missing out on any decent waders, Black Tern, Shelduck & today, a lovely male Whinchat were added to my patch yearlist today, taking it to 100 species at Grimbo for me so far in 2019. There were also a good helping of Swifts, a couple of Arctic Terns, Hobby and Yellow Wagtails among the highlights.

Living the dream!

Well...I think it's fair to say it's been a rather magical few days!

It all began on Friday, with my usual early morning, pre-work circuit of Grimsbury Res. It was a pretty cloudy and chilly one too, with a fair bit of north in the wind. On the surface, there didn't appear to be a great deal about, other than a few Common Sands. There were though, quite a decent drop of hirundines, with many gathering on the barbed wire of the perimeter fence - a classic sight on patch during gloomy spring days.

They seemed to take a liking to one particular stretch towards the NW end of the reservoir. A very distant scan with my bins, flagged up one particular bird amongst the tightly huddled hirundines on the fence. Though far away, it appeared to have a bit of orange on the side of it's face. I tried my best to get a photo and zooming in on the camera, it definitely looked REALLY interesting, but it was hard to be certain. Uh ohhh!

This would usually be the point (as is classic with Grimsbury) where a dog walker would obliviously wander along and spook all the birds from the fence! Today though, thankfully, I was in luck, with barely a sole in sight. I shot off briskly past the 'halfway bench' and then paused some 25 metres along the NW edge. Was it still there? Was it still there? Another look and yes it was. I quickly snapped a photo and zoomed in - my suspicion then changed to 100% certainty - f****** hell, RED-RUMPED SWALLOW!!

Gareth and I have always thought, with the decent amount of hirundines we get through the reservoir on passage, if we were going to get ourselves a decent rare at the dish, Red-Rumped Swallow was a feasible, if unlikely possibility. But to actually find one there was beyond exciting! I couldn't believe it! 

Obviously it's no 1st for Britain but for a small, humble inland patch like Grimsbury, this was hugely MEGA, so I'm not going to lie, I was shaking a bit as I quickly left Gareth a pretty funny, excitable voicemail (which he has since played back to me!). I then got the news out to all, via twitter, text, WhatsApp etc, trying my best to negate the adrenaline shakes as best I could! It soon flew off the fence and after losing it for a short while, I picked it up again, this time flying around in front of me among the hoards of Swallows, House & Sand Martins, with a few Swifts thrown in too.

The first few people soon arrived, including Gareth and thankfully all were onto it, if not immediately, then soon after. Disappointingly I then had to go to work, but I left on an understandably, bloody big high!!

It apparently disappeared mid-morning as the cloud cleared and their food of flies went with it. There was however, every chance it was feeding up high and could reappear during the evening, with cloud and rain forecast. As it turned out, amazingly it did just that, finding it again perched up on the same bit of fence as earlier, under very dreary skies. This thankfully allowed more people to see it, once all the usual Friday work commitments were over!

Just as surprising, was that it also lingered into the next day and Sunday too, presumably due to the cold northerly wind holding up the hirundines. I popped up both mornings for another look, together with a steady stream of other admirers from near and far. Grimbo has never seen so many birders - all a bit surreal but really cool! It was great to see a few familiar faces and to meet a few new ones too.

Unsurprisingly, the Swallow was a 1st for Grimsbury Res and just the 4th record for Oxfordshire. It took me a while to realise, but it was also my first in the UK - a self-found UK lifer, on the patch. It doesn't get much better than that!

With all the excitement, a few other decent birds have gone almost unnoticed! On the Saturday, a lone Barnacle Goose appeared and hung about on and off. Almost certainly plastic but with no rings and free-flying - it's a welcome patch tick in my book!



The Whooper Swan remains in the general vicinity of the nearby Borrow Pit - it showed super well on Wednesday 01/05.









Also that evening, a Hobby gave a great show as it dropped out of the clouds hunting for hirundines. My first of the year.

Rouzel at last

I've tried pretty hard to find myself a Ring Ouzel this spring, but with no luck! So when a single bird was discovered at the now regular Rouzel stop off of Newnham Hill, near Daventry, I popped over after work for a look on Monday 29/04.





There has been quite a bit of chat about whether it was a female or a 1st-winter male, however I think consensus has settled on female. A treat to get such good, prolonged views - well worth the drive along the A361.