Expect the unexpected!

With the family away for a night on Sunday 05/05, I had a bit of free time to get out for some prolonged birding. Having caught up with my Dad in Northampton, I decided to get over to Summer Leys, somewhere I'd not been for quite sometime!

I'd seen earlier, the rather whacky report of two juvenile Tawny Owls sat in a tree in the car park that morning. So I was surprised that by mid afternoon they were still there, high up, right out in the open! A rare opportunity to see some in daylight hours - I just hoped that would stay out of harms way, particularly as they were right next to a busy road.

Having had a good mooch round the reserve, without anything particularly out of the ordinary, I moved on to another site to look for Nightingale. I was in luck and managed to hear both singing male and presumably a female, calling closeby. A Cuckoo sang it's heart out here too.

All the while, I was fully aware of the extraordinary news of a Alpine Accentor in neighbouring Buckinghamshire, at Pistone Quarry, first found early afternoon.

It takes a lot these days to get me twitching away from my local area - it has to be something pretty tasty to get me moving! However in the end I saw sense, knowing they are often one day wonders. It's also a species I've been eager to see, having failed to connect in the Moroccan Atlas, a few years ago. I was soon making my way purposefully into Buckinghamshire!

On arrival, I tagged on with a couple of others, taking directions from a birder returning to his car. After a wrong turn, we managed to find the right route, zig-zagging down the side of the quarry. After a mildly tretchourous decent, we were releaved to finally arrive at the bottom. There was just a small handful of birders present, staring intently at the earthy quarryside. Almost straight away, I clapped eyes on the Alpine Accentor foraging away - you couldn't miss it, it was incredibly close! 

I spent the next half hour enjoying some truly dazzling views, as the bird went about it's business, complely unfazed by the gathered band of birders. Getting such good, prolonge dviews of a new bird, was a serious treat and so I made sure I made the most of it! The light then closed in as a huge rain cloud loomed over our heads and before long the heavens began to open. That was very much my cue to get back to the car!

The following day was a pretty chilled affair, however a report of a Black Tern at Foxcote Res, near Buckingam had me popping over for a look. The tern gave lovely views, with the bonuses of my first two local Hobby and singing Cuckoo of 2024! Lovely little visit.  

The Accentor was wholly unexpected, but on the night of 10/05, something even more crazy occurred. An extreme geomagnetic storm resulted in a spectacular aurora display throughout the UK and even further south too! On what was luckily a clear night, the display in Brackley was super impressive and something I would not imagine in my wildest dreams. So cool!

From the sublime, to the ridiculous - just when I thought that was it for all the excitement, another curveball loomed into view. A picture of a drake Eider seen at Boddington Res, on the afternoon of 15/05, was added to a local Facebook group. News soon got out to everyone and I hot-footed it over to Bodd straight after work.

Disappointingly, it had been showing right by the road before I arrived and had then proceeed to swim down towards the sailing club and out of sight! So off I marched and pleasingly caught up with it loafing off the sailing club. On a calm, sunny May day, what a bizarre, yet welcome record - unsurprisingly a local and county tick for me! Returning back to the road end of the reservoir, I watched it for a while longer, in the company of local birder Mark Ribbons, before the Eider suddenly took flight and headed roughly E/NE, slowly gaining height.

Interestingly a drake was seen heading up the Severn the day before, so perhaps a fair possibility it was the same bird, following that Severn - Wash route, as so many other species seem to take.  

A week on from the Eider, May produced one more gem and my second county tick in week! This time, it was a lovely female Red-Necked Phalarope, that had been found on the afternoon of 22/05, at Lilbourne Meadows NR near Rugby. Bit of a drive for me, but managed to squeeze it in after my son's bedtime! It was always distant, in drizzle and gloomy light, but still great to see, especially the characteristic spinning feeding!

Early Arctics and local spring interest

April is always an enjoyable month as the summer migrants come thick and fast - in fact it's one of the few months of the year when birding around here doesn't feel quite such hard work!

Ring Ouzels are really hard to come by in this area and so the smart male at Ardley ERF, discovered by Gareth Casburn on 07/04, was probably the scarcest thing seen during April! As is the norm for Rouzels, it was super flighty and elusive but eventually settled down and gave good views along the main track.  

In fact, 07/04 turned out to be a good day for passerines, with a great count of 3 Redstarts (2m, 1f) in the cattlefield at Grimsbury Res. A bit distant but still, spring male Redstarts are very hard to beat, particularly two together on the same bit of fence!

Tues 09/04, representated an excellent day at Grimsbury Res, with a couple of notable patch birds on what was a very breezy day. I'd just hopped in the car to head down there, when Ian Rowe reported that two Kittiwakes had dropped in at the res. Luckily for me, they stuck around long enough, with them initially sat out on the water as I arrived, then after a few minutes, had a couple of flyarounds, gained height and departed SW. I think my 9th Kittiwake record for the patch and also the first instance of multiple birds. 

It was clearly a good passage day inland, with the first sprinkling of Terns in particular. So after work, I popped back to Grimsbury for a quick-ish circuit. A few migrants were noted, including Yellow Wagtail and Common Sandpiper. Just as I was thinking about getting back home, a couple of Terns duly dropped out of the sky and it was quickly clear that they were Arctic Terns! They proceeded to show really well, feeding over the water, often at quite close quarters. A magical encounter with one of my favourite birds, in the golden evening light!

As is tradition, I spent my usual late April / early May full day out and about local sites on Monday 29/04. All in all, it transpired to be an enjoyable day. The mid-cherwell valley near Aynho proved most productive with a Greenshank, a couple of fly through Ringed Plover and my first Common Tern of the year. Best of all and bird of the day though, was a vocal Wood Sandpiper that took a while to show itself, before showing really nicely.

Amongst a total of 83 species for the day, other notables included several Swift, 3 Firecrest, Grasshopper Warbler and Shelduck. I caught up with most species, though with a bit more time and perseverance, I could certainly have added a few more species such as Peregrine, Corn Bunting, Meadow Pipit & the x3 common owl species. But would say, 83 still represented a very steady total for these parts! 

Wheatears were unusually thin on the ground this year - managed to see just one during March and April, which is wildly abnormal - this being a smart male at Hinton Airfield on 24/03. The same day also produced my earliest every Grimsbury Res Willow Warbler and Swallow! 

A few other pics from March and April: