Braxwing

On Friday (28/03) I had the day off work, with me heading off to a friend's stag do later on in the day. For much of the morning and afternoon though, I had a bit of free time to myself. I used my time to do the rounds of some of my local sites to see what I could find.

I started early at Grimsbury Res, however despite a thorough walk round, it was a relatively fruitless visit with singles of LRP & Willow Tit, as well as a Snipe in the Upper Cherwell Valley.

After nipping home I popped out to Bucknell Wood for a walk. There were decent numbers of Lesser Redpoll & Siskin still about and I was pleased to see my first couple of Comma of 2017 too.

I arrived home to get my stuff together for the weekend, however I was quickly out the door again, seeing a report of a Waxwing a couple of minutes drive down the road! I'd tried hard this winter to find Waxwings in Brackley, but to no avail. So to have the chance to see one after all, was a nice surprise!

The bird showed well, either sat up resting in a tree, occasionally fly-catching, or feeding on a surprisingly laden berry tree close by on Falcon Way. I sat and watched it for quite a while, before having to head off. Lovely stuff!

Early on Sunday (26/03) evening, I returned home from a great weekend away and seeing that the Waxwing was still about, I headed round the corner for another look. Again she showed really nicely, spending pretty much the whole time sat in the berry bush, sporadically having a feed. After a while, it flew to the back of the bush, so I headed home.

It's springtime!

So, it's now well into March and the local wildlife has a very much springlike vibe to it, with the first of our migrants beginning to trickle in. Exciting times!

It all started with a good, healthy dusting of Chiffchaff during the first week of the month, a touch earlier than last year. 

The first 'proper' migrants arrived for me all at once on Thursday 16/03 with a lovely male Little Ringed Plover & 5 Sand Martins, both at Grimsbury Reservoir. The LRP was I think, my earliest yet & was the first in Oxfordshire for 2017 too!

As of today (22/03/17), the LRP numbers at Grimsbury have now swelled to three with some entertaining displaying going on pretty regularly. Your classic Grimsbury 'chain-link fence view' of the female bird below!

Other notable Grimsbury records from recent weeks, have included my first Redshank for the site, a singing Blackcap (presumably a wintering bird, as apposed to a migrant), a female Stonechat, (a pretty scarce bird for the res) and best of all, today's winter-plumaged Knot. The Knot is a fantastic record for Grimsbury and is a patch tick for most. To Gareth's knowledge, it's also only the third known record for the site. Hopefully it is a sign of things to come this spring!

Away from the birds, the more milder, sunnier days have brought out my first butterflies of the year, with Brimstone on 09/03 and Small Tortoiseshell on 15/03, both in Banbury.

My garden pond has also been fascinating to watch with well in excess of 20 Common Frogs gathering for a bit of 'hows your father'!. The amount of spawn this year is certainly by far the most we've ever had, which is excellent. It won't be long before the pond is a writhing mass of tadpoles!

The Bluethroat vigil

I'm not going to lie, I am a big fan of the chat family and I guess Bluethroats are just the epitomy of everything that is great about them...full a character, possessing an almost eccentricity, not to mention their breathtaking colours. As chats go, they are top notch! 

I had only seen my first ever Bluethroats last year in eastern Poland, however I was yet to see one in the UK and so I had promised myself I would make the effort to seeing the next twitchable one.

At this time of year, Bluethroat isn't really on the radar, however news emerged of an obliging, 1st-winter male at Willow Tree Fen, south Lincolnshire, not too far from Peterborough. It proved to be a very popular bird and as such I wasn't initially keen to head over as it sounded like a bit of a melee.

Around 3 weeks on from the first reports of the bird, I still hadn't got over there. So I finally earmarked Sunday 05/03 as the day to go. A check of the weather on Friday night and it was all change! Saturday 04/03 was by far the better day for weather, with persistent rain forecast for much of Sunday. Clearing out the garage would have to wait for a day!

I set off silly early, with visions of getting there before anyone else and having the bird all to myself (yeah right!). Before arriving at the site I had a brief stop and the nearby Baston Fen / pits which I have to say looked awesome and nice and easy to bird from the side of the road. A couple of Barn Owls were hunting the verges in the early morning light, while there were a nice selection of birds on the pits including 5 Red Crested Pochard, a few Oystercatchers, Shelduck, Goldeneye and plenty of Wigeon.

On then to Willow Tree Fen, some 15 minutes down the road. So far, everything was going to plan and I was indeed the first one there! I set off down the track, eagerly looking out for anything vaguely chat-like flicking out of the strip of reeds to the right of the path. I reached the correct area, easily recognised by the large patch of well-trodden grass.  

A birder with some very fancy recording equipment turned up in the hope of capturing some Bluethroat song and low and behold we had our first signs of it's presence with a few short bursts of half-hearted sub-song. Awesome!

A few others showed up. After a bit of a wait the bird finally appeared, flicking out of the reeds, onto the path nearby...only for one particular guy to shout out "there it it is, there it is!" End result, it shot straight back into the reeds. First class fieldcraft there chap, cheers!

A slightly bigger crowd gathered, however there was zero sign of the bird for what seemed like ages. I popped back to the car to put another layer on and to have a slurp of coffee from my thermos flask. Walking back to join the small crowd, the welcome sight of the sun appeared which in turn coincided with some lovely views of a very vocal Bearded Tit in reeds by the path.

Finally, with the sun beaming down, I managed to pick out the Bluethroat singing again and got onto it sat on one of the fence posts directly behind the bird's favoured strip of reeds. I was super chuffed to gain my first prolonged views of it, despite it being quite obscured by reeds. 

From there on in, sightings became far more frequent, albeit quite brief. However, following a little scuffle with a male Stonechat, it then appeared in a large, bare patch of ground filling a gap in between the strip of reeds. The views were insane to say the least, with the bird scuttling to within 5 feet of me as I stood stock still. Unforgettable!

He then began singing a lot more, mostly subsong, however would occasionally give it a bit more gusto. Again he appeared and sat in the reeds for quite sometime watching the world go by, before having another feed right out in front of us.

At this point quite a few people departed, however I couldn't resist hanging around for one more showing. Some 20 minutes later, he duly obliged providing further magic views at point blank range.

I then slowly headed for home, popping into Summer Leys on the way, having not visited there for quite some time. There wasn't really much of note other than a couple of smart drake Red Crested Pochard on one of the adjacent lakes, as well as all the usual wildfowl.

What a fabulous day! It's not often I'll travel some distance to see just one bird but today, I made a real exception and I have to say it was 100% worth it!

A venture north

I was on my tod for much of the weekend, so I decided to venture to north Northants to try out a few areas I rarely get a chance to bird.

So having set off early, Saturday (18/02) morning, I began birding areas E of Oundle. A quick look at a small bit of flood by the River Nene, near Polebrook produced a small flock of Wigeon & Teal.

Polebrook Aifield is to my mind, pretty underwatched and always worth a look. A few recent reports of a ringtail Hen Harrier here, were enough to entice me there for a look. As it turned out, the place was pretty quiet, however I did come across a pair of Stonechat and the relatively mild weather got the local Skylarks and a couple of male Reed Buntings into song.

Next I headed over towards the Fotheringhay area, north of Oundle, to see if I could find any floods. I soon though became distracted by a large bunting flock just off the A605, west of Warmington. It was an impressive flock of c200 birds comprising roughly two thirds Yellowhammer & one third Reed Bunting. Despite my best efforts, I failed to muster that dream Little or Pine Bunting, however I did manage to locate a bit of a county mega in the form of a Corn Bunting that sat in a roadside tree for a few minutes and a little later, appeared in the adjacent hedge too. Full marks to the farmer for leaving such a bird-friendly strip!

I carried onto Fotheringhay and a quick stop by the river there produced a brief of fly-by Mandarin. With nothing else to try in the area, I decided to drive back past Oundle, to Titchmarsh / Thrapston GPs for a good walk around the reserve. It's a pretty great site, with a nice mix of habitat and several hides. It was a long while since I last visited and it is a shame I live so far away as I'd certainly visit more often if I could.

A full circuit of the reserve didn't produce anything too spectacular, however I did see a single Great White Egret, a pair of Red Crested Pochard, several Goosander, a pair of Oystercatcher, tonnes of wildfowl in general, particularly Wigeon, several Little Egret, a couple of Cetti's Warbler and a few Siskin.

That took me through to mid afternoon and being quite a long way from home, I began to wend my way back south, popping into Wootton, just off the A45 at Northampton, for a quick look at the Waxwings that had been around for a few days. I soon caught sight of around 20 of the flock sat in a roadside tree, however there wasn't really anywhere to stop and the road was pretty busy, so I settled for a slow drive-by view, before carrying on.

With the light on my side, I decided to take a rather large diversion back home via the Boddington Res gull roost. By Boddington standards, it wasn't a particularly big roost and the number of big gulls was significantly reduced from my last visit. Nonetheless, I managed to pick out a 1w Med Gull, my first of the year, so a pretty worthwhile visit in the end. An adult Yellow-Legged Gull also appeared, 7 Goosander came into roost and it was cool to see a hunting Barn Owl in the near darkness close to the car park.

The next day, Sunday 19/02, I didn't do too much birding really, however I did pop out for a little to check on a handful of local sites. A couple of Grey Partridge was a nice surprise near to Croughton Quarry, along with 7 Snipe and there were also a further 7 Snipe in a boggy area just SW of Radstone. I lastly had a look at the gulls over near Chacombe. Further good numbers were on show, however I didn't manage to find much more than a 3cy YLG and a couple of 1w GBBGs.

Birds of the sleet & snow

This weekend has had a particularly bleak feel to it, full of wintery showers & heavy cloud.

I still though, braved the conditions for much of Saturday, coming away with a few nice birds. I spent much of Saturday morning doing the Grimsbury Res & Upper Cherwell Valley circuit with Gareth. The res was fairly quiet with just a male Goosander, however the wood hosted both Marsh & Willow Tit, while one of the fields adjacent to the M40 held a female Stonechat, a Snipe & star of the show, a single Jack Snipe, my first in the upper Cherwell area.

I then went on to join Dan for another Warwickshire stint, mainly for gulls again, south of Coventry. We started near to Dan's at Compton Verney near Kineton for a quick look at the lake. A pair of Red Crested Pochard here were nice to see & unexpected.

On then to Ryton Pools / Bubbenhall area for a mooch about for white-wingers. We were soon in luck, as Dan picked out a big old 1w Glaucous Gull amongst large numbers of gulls in a roadside field. A 1w Caspian Gull was also closeby.

A visit to Ryton Pools, just around the corner produced possibly another (?) 1w Glaucous Gull, as well as 4w & 3w YLGs. By which time, the extremities were feeling flipping frozen and we were both happy to leave.

Before departing the area, we popped 5 minutes up the road to attempt to connect with a flock of Waxwings that had been about for a few days. After a short drive about, we came across thirty birds sat in a tree in the middle of Wolston, SE of Coventry. They were clearly pretty keen to come down to a nearby bush, groaning with berries. The only problem was the local Mistle Thrush had other ideas, guarding it at all costs! After 15 minutes or so they decided to head off and so we followed suit.

Dan headed home afterwards and I, after a bit of umming and ahhing decided to finish my day for a look at the Boddington gull roost. On the way there, between Kineton & Edgehill, I peeled off the B4086 near to Arlescote. I was then confronted by the bizarre sight of a Woodcock sat in the middle of the road, in broad daylight! I stopped, astounded by what was in front of me and reached for my phone to grab a pic, only to catch sight of a car in my mirrors coming up behind me, bugger! I inched forward and the bird slowly waddled off into the roadside ditch. I turned around further up the road and returned, however failed to relocate it. A shame, but wow, by far my best ever view of a Woodcock!! Hopefully it hadn't previously been hit by a car and was just simply a particularly dozy bird!

The Boddington roost certainly pulled in a large number of birds, particularly Common Gulls, however i failed to find anything unusual. Two roosting Little Egrets were the only birds slightly notable.

Peak District

Across Saturday 04/02 and Sunday 05/02, I spent some time in the Peak District with friends Dave, Jon & Kirsty looking for among other things, Mountain Hares.

Before being asked by Dave to go, I had absolutely no idea a population of Mountain Hares existed outside of Scotland. It turns out they were originally released into the Peak District during the 1870s for shooting. A now large and sustainable population has since sprung up from there.

So, we headed up early on Saturday 04/02. Eventually, we wove our way through the pleasant surroundings of Glossop on the edge of the Peak District and SE of Manchester. This was also to be our base for the Saturday night.

From Glossop, we took the route known as Snake Pass which climbs steeply up into the moors and beyond. It was a really beautiful day with clear skies and bright sunshine. But to really cap it off, the moors and peaks alongside snake pass were covered in a stunning blanket of snow...wow, how lucky were we!

As beautiful as it was out there, it hasn't half cold! Having wrapped up super warm, we began our walk up into the moors, soon seeing the first of many Red Grouse close to the road. Their calls are just fantastic and never fail to put a smile on my face. The classic sound of upland moorlands too.

Our main quarrel though were the Mountain Hares and we soon found plenty of tracks meandering through the snow. Surely it wouldn't be long before we found one.

Sure enough, out of nowhere one appeared from a short way in front of us and zoomed off at lightening speed, vanishing a little way ahead of us. What a beautiful animal it was. I had seen one years ago up in the Highlands, however the memory is a vague one. This one was a lot bigger than I seem to remember and in fact seemed pretty chunky. If this was the type of view we were going to get, photos were going to be tricky, however we were all really pleased to have connected with one fairly quickly.

We had number of other, similar hare sightings before reaching a high point called Higher Shelf Stones. Here rests the eerie sight of a plane crash site, explained in the image below.

The scenery was utterly fantastic and we sat up here for a while sunning ourselves and admiring the view.

We had another further wander around in some new areas for Mountain Hare and again gained a number of fleeting sighting though always brief and never stationary! We also came across a number of Golden Plover, the odd Raven and again, plenty of Red Grouse.

We slowly made our way back to the car, with the snow melting rapidly under the lovely, hot sun. It was a relatively uneventful walk other than all of us, at some point slipping over on the porridge-like peat at various points. Both Dave and Jon also nearly losing a leg a sizable peaty crater!

Before we travelled back down to Glossop, we spent a bit more time enjoying some of the local Red Grouse, one in particular proved to be very obliging!

After that, it off back down to Glossop to our hotel, some food and a few beers!

The next day, (Sunday 05/02) was pretty chilled. We headed off mid-morning after a big old fry up and took a route through the heart of the Peak district towards the SE corner of the national park. Here was the now famous village of Beeley, home to the overwintering Dusky Thrush which myself Dan & Gareth enjoyed back in early December.

The others were yet to see it so we went for a look. The sun was out went we left Glossop, however in Beeley it was far more grey & dank unfortunately! We spent a good couple of hours looking, however sadly only connected with Redwings and a frustratingly brief view of what may have been the Dusky. The highlight here were a skein of 126 Pink Footed Geese heading high to the NW, presumably on their long journey back towards Iceland.

By way of consolation we gave the adjacent River Derwent a go for Dipper and after a little while, we connected with an obliging bird, sat singing away from a riverside rock, more than making up for missing the Dusky.  

It was then time to gradually make our way back south. A fab weekend, with some great company. Thanks again for Jon, Kirsty & Dave for getting me along, and to Kirsty for driving us everywhere!