The last few weeks of 2025 again continued to deliver some nice birding, producing more local year ticks, a county tick and even a Grimsbury patch tick!
One of the main highlights of this period was a rare Grimsbury Res patch tick! On a damp 29/11, a female Goldeneye was hanging round with some Tufties. This is a very good patch bird as it was, however it was soon overshadowed, as I picked out a Pink-Footed Goose amongst the Canada Goose flock in the cattle field on the west side of the res. Presumably the same bird I'd found in the Mid Cherwell a week earlier that obligingly decided to make an appearance on patch! A very good patch bird and actually a site first.
Seeing my Dad in Northampton on the afternoon of 29/12, I decided to have a crack at the recently found American Wigeon in the north of the county, at the Thrapston Titchmarsh reserve. If ever there's a county tick on offer, I do try my best to have a go, despite being at the southern most tip of Northants!
On arrival in the car park, I was assured by a old birder that there was no sign, however I wasn't travelling this far to have a really good look! Undeterred, I took the short-ish walk to the North Hide for a good scan, overlooking the Aldwincle Lake. It didn't take me too long to come across a 1w male and a female Scaup, as well as a few Great White Egret, a male Stonechat and several Goldeneye. The main Wigeon flock grazing on the bank didn't hold the yank, however scanning through ducks feeding in the water, I was chuffed to fairly quickly pick out the smart American Wigeon associating with a mix of Gadwall, Wigeon and Tufted Ducks. I spent a good half hour enjoying great scope views before it was time to depart. Been an age since the last one in the county, so very pleased to catch-up with it and a nice late 2025 duo, with the November Lesser Scaup too!
The first of four December year ticks was some fantastic, if rather brief views of a female Merlin hunting finches at the favoured location of Hinton Airfield, at the eastern end on 11/12. Thereafter, birding talk was dominated by a highly impressive influx of White Fronted and Tundra Bean Geese into the UK around Christmas, on the back of a big cold weather front moving off Siberia.
Given the numbers elsewhere, it felt inevitable that local goose flocks would pull in some of these and so it proved with my hunch that the mid-Cherwell would produce. A short search on 27/12 produced a family party of 6 White-Fronted Geese in the Northants section of the Mid Cherwell valley. Viewing was difficult through hedges at times but I managed to get some decent enough views in the end.
Calvert Jubilee BBOWT lake has a knack of pulling in some decent birds and is a well renowned site for Bittern in winter, a bird I'd yet to see in my local 12 mile area. A couple of visits paid off over the Christmas break, with lovely flight views of the single wintering Bittern on the morning of 29/12, as well as the bonus 1w male Common Scoter hanging about.
There drew a close to 2025, a mixed bag of birding highlights, however to be fair the last 3 months saved the year with some really good local highlights.
