Some 2018 highlights

2018 was not necessarily a year stuffed with rarities, but was still a year full of interest and many memorable highlights. Here are some of my favourites, in addition to co-finding an October Dusky Warbler, great views of Adder, Purple Emperors, Stilt Sandpiper, Clouded Yellow etc etc:

Hawfinches: The beginning of 2018, saw the continuation of the unprecedented Hawfinch invasion. Having found a handful around the village of Thenford back in October 2017, numbers slowly increased and an amazing c20 birds were then present in the latter part of the winter. One particularly memorable day there stood out when a single male showed brilliantly in trees close to the church in gorgeous sunshine. 









Fieldfare: The 'Beast from the East' arctic weather front of early March resulted in seeing quite a few species becoming displaced, in a desperate search for food. Fieldfares were one particular species that seemed to be turning up in every single birders' garden. My twitter feed was full of them as a result! My garden (and Twitter!) was no exception, with one ferociously guarding the pile of apples I'd put out in the snow!



Morocco: A fantastic 8-day birding trip to Morocco with Dan & Gareth, in search of desert & mountainous specialities in the Atlas Mountains and Desert beyond.

We saw pretty much all the main targets, with the exception of Pharaoh Eagle Owl, while Egyptian Nightjar was heard only very briefly. There were countless highlights, however for me, the main ones included point blank views of male Moussier's Redstart, the mission to connect with Desert Sparrow, sat in a wadi watching migrant Nightingales & Bluethroats, Hoopoe Larks and great views of the quirky Streaked Scrub Warbler. A trip I would fully recommend, in fact one I'd be very keen to do again!
















Grimsbury patching: 2018 was my best year yet birding Grimsbury Reservoir (Banbury), in terms of number of species (124), but also for the number of scarcities too. It was astounding to find a gale-blown Grey Phalarope for the second year in a row, however the number one highlight for me, had to be the discovery of a singing male Pied Flycatcher on the 1st June! Other great finds included a very popular summer plumaged Black-Necked Grebe, both spring and autumn Wood Warblers, a couple of White-Fronted Geese, a flock of 3 Whimbrel, the site's 1st Cetti's Warbler, Common Scoter, Kittiwake, 3 Rock Pipit, Arctic & Black Tern & a good run of spring Sanderling. If 2019 comes even close to all that, I'll be a very happy man!




Hairstreaks: The scorching summer of 2018 meant on the whole, a really bumper year for butterflies.

It was also an absolutely outrageously good one for Black Hairstreaks, with record numbers at most sites. Thankfully, I managed to experience it for myself on what was a gloomy but humid morning at Glapthorn Cow Pasture, near Oundle on 16th June. What's more, I had the place to myself...almost unheard of during Black Hairstreak season!



On 19th May, I really enjoyed encountering several really fresh Green Hairstreaks at Ardley Quarry, 15 minutes from home and just into Oxfordshire. I had never seen as many there, as I did on this visit and nearly all of them were super fresh. 



It was definitely my best year for White Letter Hairstreaks & Purple Hairstreaks in Bucknell Wood, in terms of encounters and numbers, with more pristine butterflies coming down to nectar on the Brambles or to the ground for moisture. Presumably a reflection of the dryer weather.





Thrapston Nightingale: What has now become a bit of a tradition for me in the first week of May, I spent a day around Northants with the aim of hitting 100 species. In 2017, it was an incredible day's birding notching 103 species, including a few great finds. This year it was a boiling hot day, not very conducive for pulling migrants out of the sky. The day did not though pass by without it's highlights. The most memorable being this very confiding Nightingale by the river at Thrapston. Sat singing on top of a hawthorn, it allowed me to creep to within around 10-15 feet to give some crippling views as it rattled off it's full repertoire!







New butterflies: I grabbed a couple of opportunities to see two new lifers.

Going to a wedding in Canterbury, towards the end of June gave me a chance to see my first Heath Fritillaries in nearby East Blean Woods. Thankfully, it was a gorgeous sunny day and they were simply EVERYWHERE, seeing my first ones before I'd even got out of the car! It was quite a spectacle and a good remedy for my hangover!





The second was a case of turning a crap situation into a good one! On Sunday 1st July, I was on my way down to see my mate Dan Watson in Somerset, however I was suffering with a bit of a stomach bug. By the time I got to Cirencester I decided it was best not to carry on. I happened to be very close to Daneway Banks, one of the premier Large Blue sites in the UK. With the flight period still in progress, I decided to take a short walk there for half an hour, in order to not make it a completely wasted journey. This worked out beautifully, seeing two Large Blues, with one particularly fresh one out egg-laying on wild thyme. Perfecto!





Rough Leg: This autumn produced a good influx of Rough-Legged Buzzards into the UK. On Saturday 17th November I had a good look for one in the rolling North Northants countryside, an area that certainly has potential to hold onto one. After a fruitless search, I decided to nip over the border into nearby Cambridgeshire and enjoy of one of the two Holme Fen birds that had been around a while. Having got good scope views for about 40 mins, I decided to leave. Turning the car around, I noticed the bird approaching the road a little further down. I shot off along the road and using the car as a hide, I was able to watch it hovering right next to the road...my best ever Rough-Leg views by far!

New Years by the Exe

I spent a couple of nights over new Years with the Mrs in Topsham, Devon, on the Exe Estuary.

Staying literally right on the estuary, a bit of birding was inevitable, making it a solid start to the 2019 year list!

I didn't see anything outrageous, however there were good numbers, of a variety of waders and wildfowl including a few Red-Breasted Mergansers, 100+ Avocet, Dark-Bellied Brent Geese, Grey Plover, Knot, Greenshank and quite a few Pintail.





Bowling Green Marsh was holding some an impressive amount of Black-Tailed Godwit. They were regularly spooked, making for quite a spectacle as they wheeled around.







It's often possible to get really good views of wildfowl from along the lane at Bowling Green Marsh, peering through the several gaps in the hedge. On this occasion, it allowed for particularly close views of Teal & Wigeon feeding away contently relatively unbothered.

The five Grebe day

This Christmas was a busy one, catching up with friends and family. I did though have Friday 28/12 free to myself, so I thought I'd go somewhere a bit different, but not too far. I settled on giving Rutland Water a go, to finish the year off with some good winter birding.

I'd intended to leave earlier than I did, but anyhow by 10am, I popped into Eyebrook Reservoir on the way, to look for the group had Smew that had been about.



I stayed probably longer than I needed to, but there were quite a lot of birds to go through! Unfortunately, I couldn't find the Smew, but did find the recently reported Bewick's Swan. There was also a nice mix of some 40+ Dunlin & c200 Golden Plover towards the inflow end.







On then to Rutland, starting at the dam. Here I spent around 45 minutes enjoying the confiding Snow Bunting that at one point wandered towards me, pecking around my left foot!









Before I moved on, I also sussed out a couple of the over-wintering 1st-winter Shags, which showed well just off the dam.







The North Arm next, produced good scope views of the 2 Slavonian & 2 Black-necked Grebes, together with at least 2 Great White Egret, a Green Sandpiper, a couple of Redshank, 3 Goosander and lots of commoner wildfowl.



A move onto nearby Old Hall, on the Hambleton Peninsular, produced the Red-Necked Grebe a little way offshore, loosely tagging onto a load of Tufted Duck. Having seen Little & Great Crested earlier, that completed the FIVE grebe species for the day. Pretty impressive indeed, especially for an inland site! 5 Bewick's Swans were also here, exceptionally distant but could just about make them out!



Having got to Rutland later than planned earlier on, meant that I was now running out of time! But I still managed to grab the last hour and a bit of light on the Egleton Reserve. After a bit of searching, I eventually found a Smew and it was worth the wait...a lovely drake at the back of Lagoon 3. A Curlew and another Great White Egret were also closeby.

Ring-Necked Duck

With Pitsford Reservoir holding a great range of interesting avian winter visitors, I decided to pay the place a visit for a few hours on Saturday 08/12.

The feeding station / Scaldwell Bay area was the place to be. I began scanning from here, looking for the drake Ring-Necked Duck that had been around about a week, playing hide and seek amongst the big numbers of wildfowl present.

It took a good 25 minutes, but thankfully I found him, in with a distant feeding flock of Tufties and diving regularly between the Walgrave & Scaldwell Bays. After quite a while, it slowly made it's way into the mouth of the Scaldwell Bay, where it stayed near to the Maytrees Hide, for the rest of the time I was there. My 2nd Northants Ring-Necked, after the Billing GP female some 3-4 years ago.





There was plenty more of interest and the Scaldwell Bay held lots of wildfowl, including a single Bewick's Swan and 10-11 Whooper Swans - in fact a very rare chance to see all 3 species of swan together in the county!





The now usual Great White Egrets were in situ, with at least two about. A Ruff, a couple of Green Sands, c3 Red Crested Pochard and several Pintail completed an impressive supporting cast.

That wasn't all...a trip over to the dam, confirmed the continued presence of a single juvenile Great Northern Diver lingering in the Yacht Club Bay, too distant for any picture.

Down south

For much of November, any birding has been concentrated to the southern half of Northants and also the usual Grimsbury Res patch in Banbury.

On Sunday 25/11, I spent a large part of the day going around some sites between Brackley & Banbury, before heading on towards Boddington Res, Daventry Res & Borough Hill.

I started the day at Thenford Church, near Brackley in a hopeful attempt to find Hawfinches. Not surprisingly, I drew a blank. Last winter was certainly exceptional for Hawfinch, however regardless, Thenford still looks very favourable for them. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for them there for the remainder of the winter.

For the first time in ages, the Middleton Cheney / Chacombe area, had drawn in some decent numbers of gulls, feeding on cattle feed and manure. One such area just SW of Middleton Cheney held at least 3 Yellow-Legged Gulls, all adults and a lovely distinctive adult Caspian Gull. The adjacent hedge also sprung another surprise, with c20 Tree Sparrow also coming down to the field to feed. 









The water levels continued to be very low at Boddington Res, but was also very quiet on the bird front. Daventry Res painted a similar picture. There were though plenty of birds about, however the only thing of note was a vocal Green Sandpiper.





On then to the adjacent Borough Hill, in search of the recently reported Short Eared Owl. It was about 14:30pm and was very gloomy, so there was a reasonable chance it would appear. I walked through the centre of the hill and spent a good 40 minutes scanning and searching, right up to the far north end of the hill. I wanted to get back to Banbury, to Grimbo for the gull roost, so I reluctantly began walking back to the car, taking a slightly different route.

Thirty seconds later, and BANG the Short Eared Owl flew up out of the long grass, no more than 4 foot in front of me!! After a bit of fly about, it settled in the dead branches of a nearby bit of scrub and then went on to quarter the hill for a good 20 minutes. Big success, although felt a little bad for accidentally waking him up!

Rough Leg reward

Saturday (17/11) was spent going a grand tour of mid & north Northants sites, something I hadn't done for quite some time.

First up, at Clifford Hill GP early on, it was cold and cloudy and while there was nothing outrageous, a female Red Crested Pochard & 4 Pintail were something of note at least. Nearby Hardingstone GP drew a blank.



I then moved on further north to Thrapston, to have a scan of town lake. After a while, sunshine appeared and I managed to pick out the lone remaining 1st-winter Velvet Scoter, as well as a couple of female Pintail and plenty of Pochard, Goldeneye & Tufted Duck.



Further north still and to the Polebrook Airfield area looking for raptors, in particular Rough-Legged Buzzard, however just the standard Red Kites and Buzzards, plus a pair of Stonechat about too.






Having a look on Googlemaps, I was only 15-20 minutes away from Holme Fen, just into Cambridgeshire, which had been holding two Rough Legged Buzzards for the previous week or so. Having been unsuccessful in finding my own and having not seen one for a few years, I decided to give Holme Fen a go.

I made my way to the general area of where one was reported earlier and after a bit of scanning and searching, came across several birders who confirmed one had been seen not too long ago.

After some 20 minutes a buteo species appeared quite distantly, soon turning to reveal that distinctive black and white tail...Rough-Legged Buzzard! Over time it came a bit closer, hunting over the farmland and ditches, hovering regularly.

I enjoyed decent scope views for a while, before deciding to head back in the general direction of Northampton. Turning the car round, I noticed the Buzzard was getting closer and it's flight path was heading towards the road further up. So I swiftly drove further along the road and using the car as a hide, was able to enjoy some brilliant views as the Rough Leg casually hunted close to the roadside, again spending a lot of time hovering. Flippin' awesome!

I then really did leave and decided on my way back home, to pop into Pitsford Res, for a look at the Scaldwell Bay area during the last hour or so of daylight. Here, it was cool to see the 11 Whooper Swans that had hung around in recent days. They showed well, albeit spending most of the time with their heads under the water feeding! Also about were at least 2 Great White Egret, 11 Red-Crested Pochard, 10 Pintail, and large numbers of commoner wildfowl.