Keeping it local

This weekend I decided to keep it pretty close to home, ie. deepest, darkest south Northants & a little bit of Oxfordshire for good measure.

On Saturday (17/01) I popped out for a short while over to Boddington Reservoir to see what was about and to see my first Willow Tit of 2015. Was a real nice sunny day and perfect for photos. The large, wet, reedy area at the NE end held several vocal Teal and the usual Snipe, though certainly not the c.50 I've often seen here, due, I guess, to the current higher water levels. In fact I probably only had around 5-10.

Here I managed to get ridiculously close to a Fieldfare, usually a really jumpy species. I managed to stalk it down to about 10 feet, as it just sat there chilling on a fence post. With the sun behind me, I finally managed to get some decent photos of one.

Moving onto Byfield Pool and I soon picked up the hoped for Willow Tit on call. I then watched it for some time foraging around the trees along with a couple of Treecreeper and a few Great & Blue Tits. A Water Rail then began squealing from the reed bed here, a site first for me.

I then moved onto the dam where most birds had congregated due to the sailing going on. Here a group of 9 Goosander (5 drakes) were present, along with a couple of Kingfisher.

I took a bit of a longer route home and had a look at a few places but had nothing more than a pair of Raven between Eydon & Canons Ashby and lots of Buzzards.

Yesterday, Sunday (18/01), I visited Grimsbury Reservoir, Banbury to have a better look at the Sibe Chiffchaff that had been present there for a while. I had it twice last week during my lunch breaks, however wasn't able to spend too long there.

There was very little on the reservoir, however arriving at the wood, the sun came out and it was alive with birds. I soon got on to several Goldcrest and a Coal Tit. I then found at least 2 possibly 3 Collybita Chiffchaff and soon the tristis too. Managed to get nice prolonged views as it busily fed in the alders and pines.

The Tristis disappeared for a short time then flew back over my and a couple of other local birders' heads from the other side of the river, before landing in front of us and letting out an unmistakable Collybita type call. Hmmmmmm! With very pro-Tristis plumage (ie. pale, whitish underparts, grey/brown mantle & buff/brown supercilium etc.) this certainly doesn't rule it out and reading up on them a bit more, this isn't the first time this has occurred and it may well have the classic 'peep' call in its repertoire too. More interesting stuff on Siberian Chiffchaff ID can be read here: http://birdingfrontiers.com/2013/01/01/siberian-chiffchaff-and-common-chiffchaff-part-1/ & here: http://birdingfrontiers.com/2013/01/02/siberian-chiffchaff-and-common-chiffchaff-part-2/. One thing that was noticeable was how different the bird looked in different light, almost Bonelli's Warbler-like in the sun, but far more grey and white when the cloud came over.

I then heard a Willow Tit and managed to locate it on the other side of the river, feeding in  willows together with several Long Tailed Tits. I then spent the next little while attempting to get better photos of the Tristis, however the light was poor and results distinctly average! The Willow Tit moved closer but the shots of this too weren't great at all ether! The photos below as good as it got.

I spent the rest of the day back in Northants, wandering along the footpaths around farmland between Weston & Canons Ashby in the stunning sunshine. Failed to locate any hoped for Little Owls in what looked like ideal habitat. I did however get brief views of a Merlin flying purposefully east and late in the day, a flock of exactly 70 Golden Plovers were flying around calling, always nice to see locally. Other than that I saw just the usual common farmland and woodland birds including a nice confiding pair of feeding Marsh Tits (below).

New year county drive about

On Friday (02/01) it was time for a new year outing around the county on my last proper day off before going back to work on the Monday.

I started off at Clifford Hill GP first thing on a bright, sunny day, in the hope of seeing the recent Black Necked Grebe. The first birds of note was a group of 8 Goosander on the River Nene. Walking around to the SE corner, I soon located the Black Necked Grebe fairly close in. I carefully crept along and managed to enjoy great views with the sun behind me, soon joined by Bob Bullock.

I also eventually got onto the recent juv Dark Bellied Brent Goose with Bob's help right in the NW corner so no photos. I had a stomp around the boggy, reedy areas between the main lake and the A45 but nothing too exciting other than a calling Cetti's Warbler & a Kingfisher.

I then drove the short way along to Billing GP to have a look for the Ring-Necked Duck. It was pleasing to find it pretty close by, near to the car sales hut by the garden centre. It was in the company of a couple of Gadwall and a handful of Tufties. Sadly the light was pants and even getting permission from the caravan shop next door to view from there still meant fairly poor light. The scope views though were very good and were a hundred times better than what I'd had back on Christmas eve.

I finished the day at Pitsford Reservoir on both sides of the causeway. From the feeding station there was a distant Redshank in the Scaldwell Bay and several Snipe, however no sign of the hoped for Smew. Tree Sparrows appeared to be in pretty good numbers.

I moved onto the south side of the causeway and set off on the long walk to the Pintail Bay area. After a bit of a scan, I managed to locate the Slavonian Grebe that had been present for the previous few days, feeding with several Tufties and a Little Grebe.

A short way along I had a look for the 3 White Fronted Geese that had been in the area for quite a while. I soon found them amongst around 50 Greylags in Pintail bay. The trio consisted of 2 adults and a juvenile and showed well in the late afternoon golden light.

The walk back produced an unusually showy Redwing and back on the North side a Little Egret appeared, as well as a feeding Great White Egret distantly in the Walgrave Bay.

I drove back home and then onto Bicester to pick up my girlfriend from work and was chuffed to see a Woodcock flying across the A43 in the last of the light about a mile or so into Oxfordshire.

Otmoor Starlings

Tuesday (30/12) was the perfect opportunity to finally get over to Otmoor near Oxford enjoy the impressive Starling roost. Reports over the weekend suggested that an estimated 70,000 birds came in. That was the only persuasion I needed.

Decided to slowly amble round the reserve and finish off with roost. I stuffed a few left over Mince Pies into my pocket and set off from the car park. It was a slightly gloomy day and was to be quite honest pretty bloody cold, as it always seems to be there!

Spent a bit of time at the feeding station with the camera. The birds appeared to be oblivious to me being there and I enjoyed good views of a couple of Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Coal Tit, apparently quite scarce here.

After standing there a fair old while and not being able to feel my feet with cold, I moved on. Slowly wandered around finding a cream-crown Marsh Harrier, a male Stonechat, c.15 Pintail, a few squealing Water Rail, several hundred Wigeon and a paticularly showy Goldcrest that decided after feeding for a while, to sit in the bush next to me and fall asleep!

I then finished up at the reedbed by the first and second screens. The late afternoon light was fabulous and made for awesome photo opportunities, especially with good numbers of ducks at close quarters. Birds here included a large flock of Shoveler, 3 Pintail, as well as plenty of Teal, Mallard and Gadwall and smaller numbers of Tufted Duck and Pochard. The Marsh Harrier was constantly quartering the reeds and a Cetti's Warbler sang several times.

The Starlings gradually came in and while there was not much in the way of murmirating, the sight and sound of them all coming in was pretty bloody awesome. The noise was deafening! It was though frustrating to see some people climbing up the bank and peering into the reeds, risking interupting the show. There really are some flipping morons about!
Was difficult to say how many birds there were but subsequently I've seen online there was probably an estimated 50,000...nice!

I was insanely cold...like, f**kin freezing! So cue the long walk back to the car. I assumed that was the end of my day, however during the walk back, within the space of 5 seconds a Woodcock careered past and a Barn Owl then floated from over the hedge across the path and into the abyss! Great finish to a really enjoyable day's winter birding.

Pre-Christmas birding

Christmas finally gave me a chance to get around locally, a bit more than I usually get a chance to. On Wednesday (17/12) I used my last day of holiday to get up to the north of the county. I started off at Blatherwyke church which, a couple of winters ago held a small flock of Hawfinch and was definately worth a check. Sadly no Hawfinch, though did have a Peregrine unsuccessfully attacking the local Woodpigeon population! Also a flock of around 15 Siskin by the church.

Moving round to the lake and the local population of Mandarin appears to be hanging on, counting at least 12 (8 drakes) on the western lake. Also of note was a single Pink Footed Goose with a large number of Greylags. A Kingfisher was hunting the shoreline and there were as usual for Blatherwyke, good numbers of Wigeon.

A visit to nearby Wakerley Wood yielded nothing more than common woodland birds and no Crossbills, while spending some time at Fineshade Top Lodge again wasn't exactly fruitful with the usual large numbers of Red Kites, although 5 Lesser Redpoll feeding on alders in the overflow car park was nice.

I finished up at nearby Deene Park Lake which had a surprisingly large number of wildfowl with probably 100 each of both Gadwall & Teal as well as a single Shelduck.

Having missed the Wicksteed Ring-Necked Duck, news from Mike Alibone that one had turned up at Billing GPs on Wednesday (24/12) was too big a draw and so I popped over during the early afternoon. I eventually managed to gain distant views of it feeding with a tight flock of Tufties, Pochard & Wigeon right in the NE corner of the lake. Pretty pants views but glad to see it and in fact my first county tick for quite a while I think. Sadly no pics due to the distance!

Penduline Tit!!

On Sunday (28/12) the best news greeted me of a Penduline Tit showing well at Priory CP in Bedford. This is a species that has brought me pretty close to despair on a couple of occasions, pointlessly wasting several hours of my life staring into a reedbed! Surely now was the time to put that behind me!

So on the morning of Monday (29/12) I made the 45 or so minute journey across from Brackley on a stunning, crisp, sunny day. I managed to find the area with little difficulty parking behind a long line of cars along a dead-end lane. I trotted off and the news appeared to be good with several "still there's" on the way down. Eventually I joined a small huddle of expectant birders. The bird was out of view, however within a few minutes it again appeared and after a quick peak down someone's scope I now had fully unblocked Penduline Tit...BOOM!

Now it was time to enjoy the bird. It showed better than I'd hoped to be honest. Flitting around a bit, but also spending prolonged periods of time feeding on reed-mace heads, occasionally really quite close. It also called quite a bit too which was great to hear.

 

After having my fill of the Penduline, I headed over to Wellingborough to see a mate so popped into Summer Leys on the way. Not much about other than a Little Egret, a couple of squealing Water Rail and several Goldeneye.

Norfolk Rough Leg & Twites

On Saturday (29/11) I had a day free to myself so decided to have spontaneous day in North Norfolk with several good things about and the slim possibility of a drake Surf Scoter too.

Set off bright and early and started off at a gloomy & eerie Thornham Harbour. Here there had been a sizable flock on Twite reliably sticking to the general area around the car park. This is a bird I have probably not seen for well over 10 years, maybe more so was super keen to see them.

It wasn't too long before I was enjoying some great views of around 50 birds feeding on seed heads a short distance from the car. They were quite flighty and would frequently fly around and actually spent a fair bit of time all perched up in a nearby tree.

A female Merlin sat on a post out on the saltmarsh showed well but distantly before disappearing. It soon returned, hunting the same area and also had a pretty entertaining tustle with a Sparrowhawk before settling on another distant post. A big immature female Peregrine also cruised past before landing on the beach out by Thornham Point. Also present were several vocal Rock Pipit feeding around the boats, the usual common waders and several DB Brent Geese.

Next up was Burnham Overy Dunes which, too be honest would be where I would probably spend the rest of the day! Main target here were the two reported Rough Legged Buzzard, another bird I hadn't caught up with for a number of years.

There were tonnes of birds alongside the path down to the dunes, particularly DB Brent Geese & Golden Plovers. Oddities here included what appeared to be a Black Brant type hybrid & a really cool looking Golden Plover with a pure white head (shocking phone-scoped photo below!).

Other birds noted further along included a flyover 1st-winter drake Goosander (not a common bird here), several Stonechat, a fly-by Spotted Redshank, a pair of tustling Peregrine, several hunting Marsh Harrier and numerous skeins of Pink Foots heading over to Holkham.

Scanning the posts I came across what was almost certainly the two Rough Legs but were just too distant so I moved on towards the west end of Holkham Pines to get a closer look. A closer inspection revealed that one of the birds was indeed a smashing Rough Legged Buzzard, however the other turned out to be a light-phase Common Buzzard (hopefully this wasn't being reported as a Rough Leg!).

While watching the RLB, a fairly large brown bird through my scope view. Quickly panning left it proved to a Bittern flying from one patch of boggy vegetation to another! Not often you'll get Rough Legged Buzzard and Bittern in the same scope view!!

After having my fill I moved onto the pines and down onto Holkham beach to have a look at the sea. The drake Surf Scoter that had been there for 2-3 weeks had not been reported for a few days and I assumed it had moved on. I was though going to give it a bloody good scan all the same. Despite the calm and mild weather, the sea was pretty wild and it was frankly bloody difficult to get a good look at the bobbing heads on the water! Anyways in around an hour & a half I mustered at least 5 Velvet Scoter among the 200 or so Common Scoter, around 5 fly-by Red Throated Diver, a brief Slav Grebe, a female Eider, a juvenile Gannet and a small and rather diverse group of ducks consisting of a female Tufted Duck, 5 Teal, 2 Shoveler and a probable female Pintail! There was also a small of flock of busy Sanderling bombing up and down the beach, always a great sight!

The walk back in the sun was nice without turning up anything new other than a vocal Chiffchaff at the west end of the pines, as well as the Rough Leg & Common Buzzard performing distantly again out on the marsh.

The light was now fading so I headed back to Thornham to look for raptors before dusk but sadly saw nothing more however the stunning sunset was a cracking finish to a pretty good day out.