2022

A enjoyable local birding year, within 12-mile radius of home. A total of FOUR new species for the area was a good return and some very decent additions too in the shape of Ferruginous Duck, Curlew Sandpiper, Spoonbill & Spotted Redshank.

Plenty of other highlights included a good number of scarce species including Cattle & Great White Egret, TWO Brent Geese, Ring Ouzel, Whimbrel, Merlin, Little Gull, Black Tern, Sandwich Tern, Marsh Harrier, Wood Sandpiper, Firecrest, Willow Tit, Corn Bunting & Caspian Gull to name but a few! Spectacular views of a summer-plumaged Bar-Tailed Godwit and singing Grasshopper Warbler, were particular standouts.

A grand total then of 146, surprisingly close to what I thought was an ambitious target of 150. It was looking like a dead cert at one point, however I had a very quiet run through the autumn and winter, only adding a small handful of species and missing quite a few! There were certainly a few notable absentees including Oystercatcher, Tree Sparrow, Crossbill and Arctic Tern. But overall a fun year of birding! 

There was only one contender for my highlight of the year away from home - the spectacular Black-Browed Albatross at Bempton Cliffs, East Yorkshire. Having not found the time last year, I was determined to get up there on seeing it's 2022 return. Thankfully a free day to myself on a warm sunny Bank Holiday weekend, gave me my chance and luckily it showed brilliantly! A crazy long day, also including the Bempton seabird spectacle and the Wykeham Forest Honey Buzzards - but a truly brilliant day that'll live long in the memory!  

I also spent a few days in North Norfolk with Em my wife and son Luca, back in April. I managed to catch the Red-Breasted Goose with Dark-Bellied Brents out of the saltmarsh off Blakeney Harbour - interesting to see if it gets accepted, though of course can never be fully certain, it seems to be a very decent candidate. For now at least, it's on the list!

Another family trip to the Isle of Wight wasn't really geared towards much in the way of birding, however some lovely views of Med Gulls and Sandwich Terns were had.

2021 produced a surprising succession of Northants county ticks for me. 2022 would do well to match it, but despite missing out on a confiding RB Shrike, I was pleased with a couple of new additions: a February Dartford Warbler on the edge of Northampton and TWO late December Yellow-Browed Warblers at Earls Barton GPs.

My usual October birding trip with pals Gareth, Dan and Johnny, took us abroad this year, with a wild goose chase to the Hortobagy National Park, Hungary. Luckily the Geese served us well with 1000s of White Fronts, plus 2 Lesser Whitefronts and 4 Red-Breasted. An amazing urban Long-Eared Owl roost, plenty of raptors and 1000s upon thousands of Cranes made for a really enjoyable few days. 6 lifers for me included Sociable Lapwing, the Lesser White Fronts, Saker, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Pygmy Cormorant and Syrian Woodpecker. News however of a Sandhill Crane discovered in exactly the same area just after our return home was gripping to say the least!

Butterfly and moth highlights included the best summer in memory for Hummingbird Hawkmoths, my first ever Convolvulus Hawkmoth near Brackley and my first Clouded Yellow for several years. All that plus the usual local specialities. Just one brief Purple Emperor sighting this year - though one is better than none!

And finally...our local Foxes continued to entertain throughout the year, hitting a record high of NINE during the summer months and many special encounters had.

A pleasure to enjoy them so often and at such close quarters.

Christmas break birding

Christmas has been beset with colds and flu for us, family and friends so it could've gone better! But, on a brighter note, we've still had some fun and I've also got out a few times for a bit of late 2022 birding.

The highlight for me, has been the two incredibly confiding Yellow-Browed Warblers by Mary's Lake, Earls Barton GPs near Wellingborough on 28/12. An overdue county tick and got to be the best views of YBWs I've ever had, feeding just a few feet away at times! A tricky photo subject in the gloomy light so pretty pleased with the results.

A couple of short visits to Grimsbury Res yielded the lingering drake Red-Crested Pochard in lovely early morning Boxing Day sunshine, as well and my first Gadwall (a pair) of the year there on 30/12. 

A couple of 1st-winter Brent Geese, (seemingly different birds) were good sightings for the area. The first was a long-staying bird at Foxcote Reservoir near Buckingham that I popped over to see on 27/12.

I found the second amongst Greylag and Canada Geese on the Mid-Cherwell valley floods on 30/12. The mid-Cherwell was also alive with birds, both between Aynho and Somerton and also just NW of Kings Sutton. Easily c2,000 Lapwings plus, 14+ Pintail, singles of Little Egret, Y-L Gull and Chiffchaff, c60 Golden Plover, 100s of Teal and Wigeon, along with smaller numbers of Shoveler & Gadwall. For these parts that's very good indeed!

November Caspian

Been out pretty infrequently since I've been back from Hungary. When I have, it's been relatively uneventful. However, did enjoy a decent gulling session at the Borrow Pit, Banbury on 04/11, with a striking 1st-winter Caspian Gull lingering on arrival, as well as c4 Yellow-Legged Gulls. It really is becoming a bit of a trend, picking up Caspians in November annually. Though not quite as eventful as last year, where there were exceptionally large numbers of gulls in the Upper Cherwell Valley and we probably not far of double-figure Caspians, but it's good to see some gull numbers again about this year.

Elsewhere, Stonechats seem to be present at a few sites this winter having seen 3+ in Upper Cherwell Valley, a couple at Bicester Wetland and one at Hinton Airfield.

Hinton Airfield has been full of birds, with tonnes of Fieldfare in particular, as well as several groups of Golden Plover, a couple of Brambling and numbers of other Finches, Buntings and Skylarks.

We've had some unusually warm weather at times, in between all all the rain, drawing out a few butterflies including a couple of Red Admiral and a Brimstone. Not the best of signs from a climate change point of view though!