Autumn birding

October began with a surprise Hobby on 5th, zipping east over my Brackley garden - my latest ever I think! Following on from the September Merlin, another garden mega occurred on 02/11 with a Great White Egret seen to the south of town, heading west.

Winter visitors were pretty slow to arrive with Redwing gradually trickling in, but no Fieldfares at all for me in October and just one Brambling at Thenford on 23/10.

One of the most notable features of October was the significant influx of Hawfinches into the UK. Pleasingly, I got in on the act with 4 fairly high-flying birds over Grimsbury Res on 27/10, only picked up as I was watching a Sparrowhawk being mobbed! Having been a reliable site during the 2017 Hawfinch influx, I gave Thenford Church a try on 01/11 and was chuffed to encounter a further 3 birds - one hanging around with Redwings and Greenfinches, while the other two (below) flew in and fed in the one of several large yews.

The mid-Cherwell has consistently held floodwater for much of October / November, with plenty of rain around. It therefore has produced good numbers of wildfowl, with an exceptional local count of 53+ Pintail on 27/10, together with a couple of Great White Egret and 500+ Lapwing.

I managed get out and about for much of Saturday 19/10, spending some time at a few local sites. Despite, seemingly not a lot going on, I did ok with nice views of a pair of Stonechat up at the Grimsbury Borrow Pit, a trio of Cattle Egret with cows in the Upper Cherwell Valley north of Banbury, a showy Peregrine on the church at Kings Sutton and decent numbers of wildfowl in the mid-Cherwell, including 7 Pintail. I finished off at Boddington Res for the gull roost and was chuffed to see my first local Med Gull of the year; a 1st winter, plus silly views of the moulting drake Red-Crested Pochard, 5 Yellow-Legged Gull & a Tawny Owl.

I spent a rare bit of birding time away from my neck of the woods on 23/10, enjoying some time at Summer Leys, before heading on to see my parents in Northampton. I was pleased to catch up with the Glossy Ibis, a site tick for me. I've built up a half decent Earls Barton GP site list from my time growing up near Northampton, so always keen to add to it where I can! The last 2-3 years have been pretty good having caught up with Yellow-Browed Warbler, Nightingale, Purple Heron, Pec Sandpiper and Tawny Owl, in addition to the Ibis!

A few others from the month - Gadwall & Red Admiral from Stowe Landscape Gardens, Raven & Reed Bunting from Grimsbury Res and Stonechat from Hinton Airfield: