The Christmas break

Covid restrictions sadly increased again over Christmas, so despite a full 10 days off work, any festive birding was kept close to home.

Not able to head out and see friends and relatives, we spent a lot of time walking around the local area, which was no bad thing! I set myself the challenge of a 'Christmas break list' as incentive to get my arse off the sofa! Within a 12 mile radius of home, I managed 84 species between 24/12 & 03/01 which I was very content with!

The garden didn't produce much, however a bit of madness occurred on 27/12 when a group of 9 Red Kites appeared low over the garden and neighbouring school playing field. I never see more than 2-3 generally about, so this was very different from the norm. They swooped down after something several times so I wonder if someone had slung their Christmas turkey carcass over their garden fence, pulling them all in!

There have been some severe floods during December and the Mid-Cherwell Valley was particularly affected with swathes of water everywhere. This area SW of Aynho, on the Northants / Oxon border can be quite good for wildfowl during winter and it did indeed attract some good numbers across several visits.

This included up to 350 Wigeon, 5 Pintail, up to 25 Gadwall, Teal and several Shoveler. There were also a good number of Geese and while this didn't pull in the hoped for White Fronts, the flock did hold a lone Barnacle Goose, originally found by Mike Pollard. Water Rail, Stonechat and a couple of Raven were also seen.

Star of the show from my visits to the Mid-Cherwell though, was a lovely ringtail Hen Harrier flying at a decent height, mobbed by a couple of corvids. In sight for several minutes, it slowly made it's way north, along the W side of the valley, over Oxon airspace. Certainly my Christmas birding highlight!

Just like the very first lockdown, St. James' Park in Brackley has become a regular walking haunt again and does have a few nice bits of habitat on offer, that are always worth a check. It's a magnet for thushes with several particularly confiding Redwing and a mad-looking Blackbird, with a fair bit of white on it, including an all white rump. Certainly gave me a fright when I first saw it in flight!!

When checking some regular local haunts, it was pleasing to see there were still a few Tree Sparrows wintering near Chacombe, just into Northants. It has become a fairly reliable place to see them for the past 3 winters or so, but sadly is the only place locally to me, where I'm likely to see them.

I gave the Boddington Res gull roost a go on a couple of nights. While large gull numbers were relatively poor, I managed to dig out a 1st-winter Med Gull on 30/12, with a smart adult joining it on 01/01. Mid-winter Med Gulls in these parts are pretty scarce so two was decent!

Finally, the continued, prolonged presence of Crossbills in Bucknell Wood was a good draw, with 23 birds showing particularly well on a walk round on 31/12.

I headed back for a longer walk a couple of days later on a beautiful, sunny morning. The Crossbills duly joined the 2021 year list, although they were far more mobile this time round. A also saw a couple of Woodcock, several vocal Marsh Tits showed themselves and there were at least 20 Siskins too.