Was great to get going on a new local year list as 2024's total slowly ground to a halt through December!
Thrown in with the fun of new year listing, there were some interesting birds to be found, with a bit of effort.
Undoubtedly, the stars of the show, during January and February were the remarkable occurance of not one, but TWO Green-winged Teals, both within 15-20 mins from home - at Ardley Quarry and the Mid Cherwell floods, near Aynho. Both are sites I regularly bird, so I was unlucky to not fimd them myself, however chuffed to enjoy them both, with the Ardley bird far easier to see, reliably sticking to the lake adjacent to the main quarry.
As well as the Teal, the Mid Cherwell has once again provided some wonderful birding, with the consistent presence of large areas of floodwater and mud. This has included brilliant numbers of Lapwing and Golden Plover, as well as a strong showing of wildfowl consisting of larger than normal number of Teal, Wigeon, Pintail, Shoveler and Gadwall. Other notable sightings for me here, during the early part of the year also included 4 Ruff & 3 Dunlin on 28/02, good views of Barn Owl, Great White Egret, up to 6 Stonechat and a couple of Peregrine.
Other notables during the period included a couple of Caspian Gulls at Ardley Quarry, Egyptian Goose through Grimsbury Res, a couple of stunning adult Med Gulls in the Boddington Reservoir gull roost, plus Yellow-Legged Gull, Jack Snipe, Woodcock, Grey Partridge and several Peregrine sightings.
