Waders on the move

The birding has certainly picked up a bit around here, with waders now very much on the move, returning from their northern breeding grounds.

Star of the show has been the unexpected appearance of a moulting adult Spotted Redshank at the Ardley ERF lagoon on the evening of 08/08 - found by Oxon birder Gareth Casburn. A cracking little find and a local tick for me too - get in!

Pretty much at peak Green Sand passage now, seeing an amazing 25 between Bicester Wetland (13) and Ardley ERF lagoon (12), on the evening of 04/08. A nice Greenshank a local first of the year, also lingering at ERF - currently looking excellent for waders.

Best bird recently was a flyover Whimbrel at Grimsbury Res on 31/07, alerting Gareth and I as it called overhead. My 3rd on patch and 2nd this year - even better for Gareth, a treasured patch tick!

Now is an excellent time to pick up juvenile Med Gulls as they disperse post-fledging. At least 3 were picked up at Grimsbury Res on 29/07 and so I popped over after work for a look and pick up another local year tick. Managed to see 2 of them, with some nice views right over my head at times. Such smart bird with their scalloped mantle.

Away from the birds, as the scorching weather continues, the garden and lured in another Hummingbird Hawkmoth, as well as Painted Lady and a couple of Common Blues - all scarce visitors to our garden.

Local Lepidoptera

June and July is always a great time to visit the local woods and enjoy a great selection of butterflies.

Managed only a small handful of visits to Bucknell & Whistley Woods this year, but did manage to see most of the specialities, including a few Purple Emperors, Silver-Washed Fritillaries, White Admirals, Wood White, Purple Hairstreak and several Painted Ladies.

I've been keeping a consistent eye on the garden during this relentless period of dry weather. Probably the scarcest thing I saw unfortunately gave me the slip, as a very likely Brown Argus dropped in on my lawn for about 5 seconds before scooting off over the fence. A garden first that got away!

Recorded both Essex and Small Skippers, plus another couple of brief 'small skipper' sightings, zipping straight through.

Several other common species too with particularly good numbers of Gatekeepers. It seems a great year for them - they're everywhere!

Garden Foxes & a Hummer!

We're very lucky to have up to four Foxes on show every evening on the school playing field next to our garden - lured in by a nearby neighbour putting food out for them. While I have mixed views about feeding them, I can't deny it is really fantastic to see them everyday and be able to watch their behaviour and interaction, at very close quarters.

Generally, the light is quite dim by the time they're active, however more recently the foxes been out a touch earlier. As a result I've had plenty of unmissable opportunities for photos, as I wait patiently the other side of the fence!

I'd had two, all too brief garden records of Hummingbird Hawkmoth, but was keen to get a more prolonged one. I was hopeful number 3 wasn't far away, having built up quite a decent sized patch of Red Valerian (a favourite of hummers). And so, I was super chuffed to see one buzzing the valerian from my upstairs bedroom window on the morning of 21/06! I shot downstairs, grabbed my camera and was able to get a better view and a handful of photos before it shot off over the fence and away. It was part of a decent influx of them across the country, coinciding with winds from the south.

The valerian has also pulled in a few butterflies with a couple of Painted Ladies, Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral.

Finally, I've dusted off the moth trap a couple of times, on particularly warm nights. This has produced a haul of 6 Elephants and only my second ever Eyed Hawkmoth. I've also had a first Shark for the garden, plus Scarlet Tiger and a super smart Buff Arches among other things.

Little Owl

Luckily I have a regular Little Owl site not too far from home. Recent warm, sunny evenings have coaxed me out to check in on them and I'm glad I did as one of the adults is so super chilled, performing beautifully!

Bicester's purple patch

This time of year is generally super quiet on the birding front around here, as we hit the summer. It can though, also be a time for the unusual as illustrated on the evening of Monday 06/06 as news broke of two Spoonbill at the Bicester Wetland keyholder reserve! A great local record and only the 3rd ever for the BOS recording area. Frustratingly I couldn't get out to see them initially, with my grocery delivery imminent and also my son deciding he didn't fancy going to sleep at the normal time! However eventually, I managed to fire up the car and scoot over to Bicester to enjoy these scarce local visitors in the fading light, joined by fellow local birder Mike Pollard.

As is pretty standard for Spoonbill, they spent plenty of time sleeping, however they did start feeding very actively in the near darkness just before we left.

Sadly, after being seen first thing the next day, they departed soon after.

But Bicester was not done there. The following day, I had another quick look after work, with a vague hope that the Spoonbills were just hiding somewhere out of sight. No Spoonbills, but was pleased to come across a cream crown Marsh Harrier sat in a willow bush by the main pool, being mobbed by a couple of Black-Headed Gulls! Not at the level of Spoonbill, but still a very notable bird locally. It spent the next 15-20 minutes hunting the reserve, actually catching a frantic Moorhen for a short while, before it wriggled free!