Rediscovering the Joys of Birding

• Thursday, May 15, 2008 - Temminck's Stint on the Meadow

It's been a fantastic week for birding. I was so excited to find the wood sandpiper earlier on in the week, then yesterday I managed to twitch the red-footed falcon (not a particularly great achievement I know but I enjoyed it) and then to cap it all this morning there's a Temminck's Stint on the Meadow.

I went down to the Meadow to see if the wood sandpiper was still there. The weather was lousy and it soon started to rain quite hard. The Meadow though was looking great from a bird point of view with plenty of water still from the floods and some really great mud being exposed. On the floods I soon spotted a couple of ringed plover on the far bank but when I looked closely there was a third smaller bird next to it. It looked stint-like and yet had a rather plain back. It was standing right next to the plovers and one could see it's tiny size in comparison. At that moment the three birds were spooked and flew up suddenly so that I caught a glimpse of it's tail: it had the white edges going all the way down to the end of the tail. At this point I started to get excited as I knew that this was significant but couldn't remember whether than meant Temminck's or Little Stint. I thought that I might have lost it at this point so scanned the rest of the shore-line. I soon came across the wood sandpiper which was still happily wading and bobbing away but no sign of the other birds.

I was getting increasingly wet in the rain but thought I'd give the end of the shore another scan. I quickly picked up the ringed plover again though now there appeared to be three of them. Next to them I then find a dunlin. Could I have been confusing my stint with a dunlin? I had been sure of the size differential compared to the plovers and the dunlin was more or less comparable in size. I was starting to have doubts but then I find the stint again and it's obviously smaller than the other birds. I get a good look at the back which is rather plain and I'm becoming more certain all the time that it's a Temminck's. However I look at my watch and realise that I need to get back to take my daughter to school so I give a quick call to a local fellow birder telling him what I found. Fortunately he's in and can come down to the Meadow so I leave him instructions as to where it is and head back home. About half an hour later he calls me back to confirm the ID - he is much more experienced than I am and has a much better scope and manages to see the leg colour so with this endorsement I'm confident that it is in fact a Temminck's Stint.

There have been quite a few Temminck's Stint around over the last few days: Rainham Marshes have had three and at Little Marlow GP's in Bucks there's been one for the last couple of days so they are definitely on the move at present. In fact I had been contemplating a twitch over to Little Marlow but this find had saved me the trip. It's strange because the same thing had happened with the wood sandpiper: I'd been contemplating going down to the Greenham Common area where there'd been a couple of wood sandpiper and had even asked a local birder down there for directions when one turned up on the Meadow. I suppose that what's happening is that there's been a movement of these birds so I see the postings on Bird Guides and start thinking about trying to find one and then they turn up on the Meadow but it does seem rather spooky that when I contemplate trying to find a bird lo and behold it turns up on the Meadow. Perhaps I should contemplate trying to find some mega rarity to see if I can manifest it!

Anyway, yet another year and life tick. It's been four Lifers in a row now so it's a really exciting birding time at present.

166: Temminck's Stint (LIFER)

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• Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - Stewartby Red-footed Falcon

I was about due for another of my fortnightly mornings off for birding but what with the excitement of the wood sandpiper yesterday evening (which was still present this morning when I went down to check) and the propsect of a day's birding while looking after my son L on Saturday I thought that I would go for a simple little twitch which shouldn't take up too much time. A red-footed falcon had been at Stewartby in Beds for the last 4 days so it was a good candidate for a "quicky". I waited until about 11am to see if it was going to be posted on Bird Guides as having been seen again but although nothing had appeared I had become quite taken with the idea of the trip and had decided to go anyway. If it wasn't there then at least there should be plenty of hobbies to look at.

The journey was 48 miles mostly along single carriage-way A roads and took about 70 minutes, which just shows how slow one's average speed is on such roads. When I arrived there were at least half a dozen cars parked up by the entrance to track across the fields so there was a good chance I felt that the bird was still there - if it had gone people would have been less likely to hang around for it. A 5 minute tramp along a farm track lead to a group of birders with scopes all set up scanning the skies. I asked whether the bird was around and was told that it had been seen several times that morning but that it was coming and going and that right now it wasn't present. It seemed to be a matter of scanning the plentiful hobbies that were flying everywhere for that tell-tale dark grey underbelly of a first summer male. I soon discovered that this wasn't as easy as it appeared: the light wasn't that helpful and often one only had a near-silhouette in the distance. I started watching the hobbies anyway, delightful birds with which I am only starting to become fully acquainted: although I know I saw one as a boy it was a distant blob which someone else had ID'd for me.

All of a sudden one of the more experienced birders picked the red-foot out and started a commentary of what it was doing so that we could pick it up. I thought that I had it but it was still no more than a blob for me before it disappeared suddenly rather close in the bushes to the left. It didn't seem to fly out the other side and we were left somewhat mystified as to where it had gone. It had not been a very satisfying viewing and I was even debating whether I'd actually definitely seen the bird.

After a while there was the distant cry of a raptor and two birds came flying rapidly across the sky towards us. Someone else ID'd them as peregrines and we all got a good chance to view them. It was a good opportunity for me to compare them to the hobbies to see how much more powerfully built they were and to get a sense of their different jizz. I am a great believer in jizz, that nebulous feel for a bird which can often be the fastest way to ID something. After they had gone I went back to acquiring more hobby jizz.

Suddenly a bird flew out of the bushes from the left not to far from us. With my newly acquired jizz radar I could sense that it wasn't a hobby and it even looked different so I called it out to the group as the red-foot which was fortunately immediately confirmed by someone else. We then watched it for about 5 minutes as it hunted insects over the pit before becoming just another blob on the distant horizon. To have appeared as suddenly as it did, it mush have been perched in the bushes not to far from where we were.

At that point I felt that I'd got my money's worth and as time was drawing on I decided to head back to Oxford. When I got back on Bird Guides it was posted as being seen a couple of times though the last entry mysteriously said "...until 14:15 only". I'd left there at 14:00 and was wondering what could have happened to make the poster so sure that it had gone after 14:15 as it had been coming and going all morning often not being seen for some time before re-appearing again. If that was indeed the last sighting then that would have made for a very lucky twitch on my part, seeing it not 15 minutes before it departed. Incidentally the same thing happened with the dotterel that I saw on Bury Down which apparently flew off some 15 minutes after I left.

Another one for the year list and yet another lifer too. Despite my wondering where my next ticks were going to come from I seem to be picking up some nice birds at present. Of course this one was just a twitch of someone else's bird but it was still nice to see.

165: Red-footed Falcon (LIFER)

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• Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - A wood sandpiper on the Meadow

Things have been rather quiet on my local patch, Port Meadow in Oxford but over the last few days things had picked up somewhat with my finding greenshank on the floods at around lunch time several days in a row. I arrived back mid afternoon from a morning's meeting up in London and didn't really feel like doing any work so I suggested to my VLW (very lovely wife) that I take our son L out for a little stroll on the Meadow. I'd noticed that a pair of little ringed plover had been posted as being seen there that day so I thought I'd have a look round to see if they were still there.

When I arrived on the Meadow it was looking absolutely gorgeous in its May colours: the hawthorn was all out and the buttercups were all coming out amongst the grass. The sky was a lovely blue and only a rather stiff northerly breeze kept it from being a perfect day. I went to my usual vantage point by the gate to the entrance to Burgess Field NR and scanned the flood shoreline through my bins for anything interesting to see if it was worth getting my scope out. After a few moments I managed to find a small wader that warranted a closer look. As usual it was as far away as possible from where I was and the sun was also more or less behind it now so even with the scope out it was difficult to make out. In shape it was closest to a redshank but it seemed too small. I'd recently been getting my head round all the waders by drawing a chart of them ranked according to size. I use dunlin, redshank, godwit and curlew as my four key size markers as I am reasonably familiar with their sizes by now. I then rank a prospective wader according to where it fits in this scheme. For example a greenshank is bigger than a redshank but not as big as a godwit. In this case the bird in question was between a dunlin and a redshank but it was difficult at that range and with the sun against me to tell any more.

I was going to call it a stunted redshank and leave it at that but I had a bit of time before I had to be back home so I thought that I would stroll over to the other side of the floods to take a closer look. The ground by the river is riddled with hardened cattle prints and is therefore very bumpy. Even with the new all-terrain pushchair it was hard going getting L round to the right side of the floods. Fortunately the bird was still there - I'd noticed that it had stayed put when some people had walked quite close by so it wasn't particularly flighty. I positioned myself so the sun was more or less behind me and got down to less than 50m from it and had a good look in my scope. I was soon able to determine to my delight that it was in fact a wood sandpiper. I carefully checked all the diagnostic features: white spangles on a green/brown back, a white supercilium, greenish legs and it even helpfully flapped its wings to reveal a white rump ending square against it's back (ie not a wedge shape like a greenshank) with small dark bars on the tail end (as opposed to the heavier dark bars of a green sandpiper) and a light underwing. I tried to take a photo which would have come out quite well at that range only to discover that my camera battery had gone flat. Nevertheless a great find and one I was most pleased about, even more so for having found it myself rather than twitching someone else's find.

I had a quick scan around to see if there was anything else that I'd missed and managed to find three little ringed plover along the northern shoreline. They were rather well hidden amongst the churned up mud from the cattle which explained why I'd not seen them from Burgess Field. There was also a single common tern hunting over the water briefly.

Another one to add to the year list and indeed another lifer.

164: wood sandpiper (LIFER)

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• Thursday, May 8, 2008 - Sunrise warblers, a Black Tern and a Marsh Harrier

The other morning I was going for my usual run across Burgess Field Nature Reserve and I noticed that even at 7:30am surprisingly few warblers were singing. This got me wondering how much of a difference there was if one were to get up in time for the dawn chorus. Another reason for this interest in warbler song was that I'd discovered that my distinction between the songs of the sedge warbler and reed warbler was not as precise as I had hoped and I was in fact wondering about my supposed reed warbler sightings at Rainham Marshes the other week. As those birds had only been glimpsed through the reeds I was worried that they could in fact have been sedge warblers. I'd been boning up on the two songs and felt I now had a much better idea on the differences so I decided to test out my knowledge and also to see what difference there was to singing levels by aiming to arrive at dawn. I picked Otmoor RSPB reserve as a good location where one can see all 10 of the common warblers (with cetti's being the 10th) and resolved to get up in time for dawn.

Accordingly this morning I'd set my alarm for 5am but actually awoke at 4:30 so decided to get up. This was just as well as when I checked, I'd not actually switched on my alarm! I was down at Otmoor at 5:15 just as it was getting light. There was plenty of bird song everywhere and I could even hear a cetti's singing next to the car park so I set of with eager anticipation. A pair of yellowhammers on the path leading up to the main reserve were an interesting starter; sedge warblers and whitethroats were singing everywhere and there were several grasshopper warblers reeling in the field next to the car park. Once I got to the main path along the reserve I soon located what I was pretty sure was a reed warbler and sure enough was able to see it and identify it positively - the reeds are comparatively sparse there so one can often get good views of the birds. As I made my way down to the turn-off for the first screen I found several more reed warblers and sedge warblers and managed successfully to distinguish between them with the song first and then to ID them afterwards. I also had an excellent albeit brief view of a cetti's warbler along here. Cetti's are not uncommon at Otmoor though they are more usually seen than heard.

Apart from testing my warbler song knowledge, the key birds that I was looking out for were lesser whitethroat (the last of the 10 warblers that I still need for my year list) and turtle dove which are well known at Otmoor in the summer. I soon found a singing lesser, though he remained obstinately hidden from view. I made a note of the location and resolved to come back later in case I didn't find any others. When I got to the turn-off for the first screen I decided to nip down there to see if anything was about. There wasn't much there but I did take a rather nice photo of the sun coming up over the clouds.

I then headed back down towards the path to Noke, which I'd been told the last time was a good and often over-looked location for birds. Setting off down this path I saw the first of several cuckoo sightings (though it may have been the same bird repeatedly). I also heard the purrings of a turtle dove and soon managed a sighting. There were redshank calling in the field on my right and I eventually saw four of them flying around. I also found another singing lesser whitethroat though it seemed to be singing on the far side of the hedgerow which was behind a ditch so there was little I could do other than wait. After about five minutes it broke cover and flew a few yards further along the hedge before immediately identifying itself by breaking into song. Thus a brief but definite view and another year tick. At the end of the path I checked out the local pools but there was nothing of interest so I headed back towards the main area.

Re-checking the large pool on Ash Grove field I managed to locate a bobbing common sandpiper at quite close range. There was also a lone distant little egret. I was just starting to think about heading home when I saw a large bird in the distance by the first screen. I was wondering about a harrier though it could have been a heron so I thought that I'd go and take a look. I was glad that I did because whilst the bird that I'd seen did turn out to be a heron, a female marsh harrier soon appeared on the scene and started quartering over the reed beds at close range. At the same time a black tern appeared and started hunting over the water. At one stage I had both of them in my bins at the same time, both birds being less than 50m away. The tern soon departed but I watched the harrier for almost 5 minutes before she flew out of sight. Although marsh harriers are well known at Otmoor at this time of year it was still a great sighting and in fact another Lifer for me.

I decided that I'd had enough by this stage and headed back to the car, tired but very pleased with my mornings work. The only bird that I could reasonably have expected but had not seen was a hobby.

On the list front, my positive sighting of a reed warbler saved me from another embarrassing list correction and there were three more ticks to add to the list:

161: turtle dove
162: lesser whitethroat
163: marsh harrier (LIFER)

It's getting harder now to see where the next ticks are going to come from. There are some passage waders that I could pick up (sanderling, knot or any sandpiper other than common) but there aren't any more certainties. I may need to pick the brains of some local experienced birders to see what can be found at this time of year in this area.

Dip or Glory! (someone else's phrase but I rather like it).

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• Friday, May 2, 2008 - A dotterel on the downs

It's been a good week for birding. I know that it's peak passage time but I've been very pleasantly surprised at the quality of birds that have been cropping up in and around Oxfordshire this week. I've not been on a major trip but instead lots of local trips plus one short twitch over the border to the Berkshire downs.

It started off on Tuesday when I decided that I would stop work early and head off to Farmoor reservoir to try and see the black terns which had been passing through recently. Also there were reports of little gulls as well as several whimbrel sightings. The weather was rather mixed: it had been raining on and off during the day and I decided that it would probably continue in that fashion for the rest of the day so, despite the ominous clouds, I set off with my 22 month old son L in tow for the reservoir. Just as we arrived it started to rain quite heavily so I installed L in his pushchair with the rain cover over him, and buttoned up my water proof. There were loads of swifts, swallows, and martins around all flying very low, a sign of bad weather and it indeed proved to be so. The rain got steadily worse and I was soon drenched from the waist downwards as I'd chosen not to bother bringing my water proof trousers. Meanwhile L slept through it all. Having got this wet I decided to persevere and scanned the reservoir for interesting birds. Through the gloom I could make out some distant terns but couldn't see any black's. I did manage to see a few yellow wagtails on the causeway and on the green barley bails that are strung out across the reservoir (to prevent algae growth) there was an arctic tern and also an interesting gull which had a lovely pinkish hue to it, a rather faint grey hood and dark markings on its lower mantle. It looked quite exotic but it's tiny size gave it away as a first summer little gull which was a year tick for me. By this stage I was getting rather cold so I decided to call it a day.

The next day the weather was better and I decided to head back out there to have another crack at the black terns which, according to Bird Guides, had been seen again there earlier in the day. I took the precaution of bringing my water proof trousers this time and L and I headed off once more to the reservoir. As soon as I got to the reservoir edge I scanned the water and in the distance I could see a few black terns as well as a vast number of arctic terns hawking the water. The Bird Guides posting had estimated over 100 of them and it was quite a sight to behold. I walked round to the barley bails again where some were perched and a black tern amongst them. I even managed a passable digi-scoping effort with it. Despite keeping a look-out I didn't see any whimbrel which I was still keen to see. In fact as I was leaving I met a fellow local birder who informed me that he'd seen a whimbrel on my local patch Port Meadow that very afternoon! After dinner I nipped down there to see if it was still about but I couldn't find it. Still, I'd managed to see the black terns which was nice.

A Black Tern on a barley bail on Farmoor Reservoir

The next morning I went out for my usual run on Port Meadow. As usual I took my old bins with me (I don't want to damage my new ones by shaking them about too much) and I stopped to scan the Meadow by the entrance to the Burgess Field NR. To my surprise I say a large brown bird just to the north of the floods (where the whimbrel had been seen the previous afternoon). Although it was some distance away and my old bins are pretty dismal I could see enough to realise that it was in fact a whimbrel. I continued on my run, hoping to get a better view further round the Meadow. I did see it again but not from any closer and it had gone by the time I was leaving the Meadow. So not a great view but a definite tick both for my year list and also my life one.

The next day (Friday) I again went on my run on the Meadow. No whimbrels present this morning so I decided to spend more time running around Burgess Field to check out the warblers. Out of the 10 common warblers I'd still not found sedge, lesser whitethroat or cetti's on Burgess Field and was interested to see if I could do so. I did find a warbler that I couldn't identify - it looked like a rather large garden warbler with a song that didn't sound quite right. Having looked it up in the book I'm none the wiser so perhaps it was a fat garden warbler. I also found another garden warbler of the correct size and with a more standard song. It was showing well and I could even make out its white eye ring. Seeing that just left lesser whitethroat to get for my year list on the common warbler front.

That same day at lunch time I was just about to go down to lunch (I work from home) when I thought that I'd check the Bird Guides web-site to see if anything had turned up. To my surprise a dotterel had been seen on Bury Downs on the ridgeway just over the border in Berkshire. It had been posted just 20 minutes ago and I knew that last week one had been seen there which had hung around all day so it was a reasonable candidate for a lunch-time twitch. I made a quick packed lunch and headed off for the downs. It took about half an hour to get there (the traffic out of the city was quite heavy) and as I pulled in to the car park I saw a couple of birders there with their scopes. I asked if they were there for the dotterel, which had been posted as being about 1km west of the car park, and they said that they were and that it was in fact right in front of me! Indeed it was right in front of where I'd parked at about 30m range. I then spent a thoroughly enjoyable 20 minutes eating my packed lunch and watching a cracking dotterel through the scope. In fact it was close enough that I was kicking myself for not having brought my camera as it would have made a great photo. I left at about 2 pm and managed to get a reasonable amount of work done that afternoon so it had been a most excellent lunch-time twitch. I later saw from BG that it was gone by 2:30pm so I'd been lucky to get there in time.

Saturday morning I was once more on my run on the Meadow and scanned the floods from the usual place. To my delight there were a couple of large waders working the floods. What's more, even from that distance I could see that they weren't the usual stuff, being much paler that the usual ruff and redshanks as well as larger. I spent a couple of minutes wondering whether to run back home to get my scope and proper bins or to run round to the other side of the floods as usual and to see if I could get a better view from the other side. In the end I decided on the latter and ran unusually fast round my usual route. On the way in Burgess Field I still managed to see another garden warbler and also a female sparrowhawk. As I got back on to the Meadow I would run a while and then stop for a scan. Suddenly, there was a stampeed of the local horses that are kept on the Meadow with a herd of about 40 running past the end of the floods. I was worried that the birds would be put to flight but they only flew a bit further up the floods. I was able to get around to the right side of the floods from the point of view of the light and then gradually crept forward until I was just across the flood water from them at a distance of about 50m. By this stage I'd seen a fair bit of them including them in flight and the white wedge up their backs, together with a white rump and no wing bars meant that I was homing in on greenshanks as the ID. I could also see that the size was larger than a redshank but not as large as a godwit and the colouring was correct for a greenshank. To top it off finally I could just make out the green legs as well so I was confident in adding greenshank to my year list. In fact I'd only ever seen them once before as a boy so it was a great find.

That afternoon I decided to go with L and my younger daughter B to Otmoor, the local RSPB reserve. My eldest daughter K was going round to a friend' s but my VLW (very lovely wife) was feeling a bit poorly so my taking the other two meant that she could have a bit of a rest. When I go with L he's always very good and enjoys his outings but B, although being 10, could be a bit more trouble and it wasn't long before she'd got L out of the pushchair and the two of them had found the one muddy puddle that was left on the track. L managed to fall over and get his trousers sopping wet and covered in mud so that I had to take them off him. Still it was a warm day so he just wore his nappy. On the birding front Otmoor was fully in "spring mode" with loads of singing warblers everywhere as well as distant calling cuckoos. I was particularly looking for lesser whitethroats and I did manage to hear a couple and caught the briefest of glimpses of something grey which headed into a thicket and then started singing. It's a "probable" and in the unlikely event of my not seeing any others this year I'll probably give it to myself come the end of the year but I am hoping to see some before then. Other birds of interest that we saw were a brace of red-legged partridges in a field, a couple of hobbies hawking over the marsh, loads of whitethroats and reed warblers and a few singing cetti's (not seen though). We heard a couple of grasshopper warblers and saw a wheatear in the distance. There were a couple of ringed plover by the edge of a pool and a redshank was flying around. There were several hares loping around in the fields and a cuckoo flew over briefly. So a couple of year ticks for me (red-legged partridge and cuckoo) and the probable lesser whitethroat that I'm holding in reserve.

On the list front I got a helpful comment from Robin Dryden concerning my tree pipit sighting in Rainham Marsh (it's nice to know that someone is actually reading my blog!):

"I have a word of caution about your Pipit at Rainham. Meadow Pipits also have a parachute song flight. The two fundamental differences are the call and the legs. The mipit has a rather monotonous weak song while that of the tripit is much richer. In the parachute flight, the tripit dangles it's legs, the mipit doesn't. Habitat wise, tripits are usually in wooded clearings and heaths, mipits in open areas but with a lot of overlap. I haven't been to Rainham but I would suspect mipit is more likely. You might want to look up a recording of the call to confirm your id? "

In my ignorance I had not been aware of this distinction and so decided my tree pipit sighting was not reliable enough - it's all part of the process of gaining experience. Anyway, my year list has moved on surprisingly well this week:

153: little gull
154: black tern
155: whimbrel (LIFER)
156: garden warbler
157: greenshank
158: dotterel (LIFER)
159: red-legged partridge
160: cuckoo

There's still turtle dove and lesser whitethroat which I can reasonably expect from Otmoor this season and I hope that I can pick up a few more passage migrants during this peak time of year. I expect that things are going to start slowing down once the prime passage is over in a few weeks time.

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• Saturday, April 26, 2008 - Rainham Avocets

Today I managed to get in quite a few hours of unencumbered (by my lovely son L) bird watching down at the RSPB reserve at Rainham Marsh. My eldest daughter K and her friend wanted to go to the annual Shell Show at Theydon Bois with their aunt who is a keen shell collector. K went the previous year and enjoyed it thoroughly and was bringing her friend along this time as well. I offered to drive them there and then to head off for a spot of birding before collecting them when it was all over. I chose Rainham as somewhere reasonably near where there would be a chance of some interesting birds.

Everything went according to plan and I arrived at Rainham at around 12:30. The reserve consists of some marsh land with some scrapes, surrounded by reed-filled ditches and a convenient board walk all the way around it. The reserve borders the tidal Thames and there is also a walk along the estuary as well though it's not all part of the reserve. A quick look at the log book revealed that both avocet and whimbrel had been seen that day along the estuary front itself - both birds I was keen to spot. I decided to head off down the estuary front first but took a wrong turn and by the time I realised that I couldn't get to where I wanted I was already too far along the board walk section of the reserve. Still there was plenty to look at. There seemed to be whitethroats singing everywhere and showing themselves reasonably well too. There were also quite a few singing reed warblers and I soon located one that was singing in a relatively small patch of reed and relatively close by. A bit of peering into the reeds soon revealed the bird itself, which was great as reed warbler had been one of the birds to be purged from my life list during the night of the long knives (when I removed all birds that I wasn't certain I'd seen as a boy). It was good to see it properly and also to get it as a year tick as well. I was just walking further along when a couple of interesting birds flew over head. Almost all white with long trailing legs and long beaks, as soon as I got the bins on them I identified them as avocets. They actually flew in to land on the central scrape by the reserve building and I was able to get good views through the scope. These were birds that I knew I'd not seen as a boy so another first for me.

A bit further on I heard an interesting call and saw a pipit doing an interesting song flight, flying from a post up into the air and coming down again, tail raised at an angle. I remembered from my youth that this was the song flight of the tree pipit so I was pleased to see this again - I'd only ever seen one once before as a boy.

There were more reed warblers and whitethroats and at one stage a couple of birds flew into the reed beds that looked rather like cetti's warblers but they remained silent so I had to leave them as probables. Further on round there were a few pintails, lots of shelduck and plenty of immature herring gulls. There were also little egrets, redshank and a pair of little ringed plover back on the main scrape with the avocets who were still present.

One interesting thing about Rainham is the frogs: at this time of year they make a right old racket, which is really loud and at times drowned out the sound of the warblers! Many visitors to the reserve were actually there to watch the frogs rather than the birds.

Getting back to the reserve building at around 3 pm I decided to have a look along the estuary which is where the avocets and whimbrel had originally been seen. Apparently the tide was in now so there would probably not be much to see but I was curious to take a look any way. I had not realised quite how far it was to walk and it was getting on for an hour later when I finally got round to the far side. I could see that it looked quite promising and at low tide would have had potential but right now there was little present. I knew from Bird Guides that black redstarts and ring ouzels had been seen there earlier in the week but I didn't see either despite scouring the area.

I realised that time was marching on and since the reserve gates were locked at 5pm I need to get a move on to get back in time. At a fast walking pace I kept an eye out for birds and actually saw another reed warbler, lots of whitethroats, a few reed buntings and a bird which flew across the path which could have been an ring ouzel though I didn't get a good enough view. I made it back with 15 mintues to spare but realised that I'd been walking non-stop and a reasonable pace from 12:30 until 4:45 with only a 15 minute break for lunch. No wonder I had blisters! I managed to rendez vous with the shell collectors in time and we had an uneventful journey back home.

Three more year ticks, two of which are actually Lifers as well so a very productive day
151    reed warbler (LIFER)
152    avocet (LIFER)
153    tree pipit

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• Friday, April 25, 2008 - Terns and Sandpipers

On Friday I took a supposedly short lunch-time trip to Farmoor reservoir which ended up taking longer than intended. The aim was to look for passage terns and gulls, in particular Sandwich Terns and Little Gulls which had been seen over the last few days.

Firstly a bit of book keeping: after inspecting the excellent photos of John Anderson I have decided that my sighting of 2 great northern divers flying over at Fife Ness is not reliable enough and I am accordingly scratching it from my records. So that reduces my year total by one.

On Friday at lunch time I picked up L from nursery and took him out to Farmoor reservoir to hunt for passage terns and gulls. There had been sandwich terns seen with the arctics over the last few days (though only a few) and also a few little gulls, both of which I need for my year list. As I walked up the slope to the reservoir a tern went over and if I'd had to guess I would have said sandwich though I didn't get a good look at the bill and so wasn't confident in counting it. One of the first things I did notice was the large number of swifts flying overhead, my first of the year. There was not a great deal on the reservoir apart from a few terns some of which were sitting conveniently on some green float-things which were strung out across the smaller of the two reservoirs. This meant that I was able to focus in on their bills and identify them. There was a pair of common terns and an arctic tern. There were also a large number of terns flying around and I reckoned (though it's still not a strong point for me) that they were all arctics - I counted at least 10 birds. Walking along the causeway I encountered a very tame dunlin more or less in full summer plumage. It stayed put even when I was about 3 metres away so I could get excellent views of this lovely bird. Further along the causeway was a flock of 3 white wagtails with a single yellow keeping it company and in the corner were a pair of common sandpipers which weren't as cooperative as the dunlin so I couldn't get that close.

I had a quick look in at both Shrike Meadow and Pinkhill hides but there was nothing much about. There were a lot of sedge warblers down in the hedges and bushes approaching Pinkhill some of which were showing rather well.

I met a few birders who were looking for arctic terns and seemed to be having trouble locating some that they could feel confident in Id'ing. They said that they'd seen an adult little gull in the middle of the reservoir which sparked my interest and at that moment a bird ticking many of the Little Gull boxes flew across the reservoir. The only problem was that on closer inspection it had a white leading edge to its wing which marked it out as a black-headed with rather dark under-wings.

The walk back proved uneventful with just one extra white wagtail to add to the tally.

So no luck with the two target passage birds but three more ticks on the year list which brings up the 150.

148    swift
149    common tern
150    common sandpiper

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• Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - Lots of Summer Arrivals

One of the things that I am particularly enjoying about this year of rediscovering birding is the appreciation of the arrival or migrants etc which I must have missed as a boy because I find myself coming to this year with only the vaguest understand of what arrives when.

Firstly by way of book-keeping I should mention that I am adding Egyptian Goose to my year list: on the way to Appleford on one several failed attempts to see the local glaucous gull I did see a "funny" goose in the flooded fields but hadn't had time to think about it and dismissed it as some feral goose. Later on when paging through my bird guide I came across the Egyptian Goose and realised that that was what I'd seen, so a belated tick for that one.

Having arrived back from my week of sea birds I was keen to get out there and "greet" the arriving migrants. To this end on the first day back I went out to my local patch at Port Meadow to see what was around. It was rather overcast and starting to rain but I took L out in his new super buggy and also younger daughter B on her bike to see what was about. The Meadow was looking very green and luscious. A quick scan soon revealed the pleasant surprise of three yellow wagtails on the floods, standing out in the gloom. There were quite a few ruff still around, starting to moult to their summer plumage now. Scanning in the distance I spied a couple of dunlin in sum. plum. and also a flock of little ringed or ringed plovers. At that distance and in the gloom I had to wait until they flew before I could ID them but they were quite flighty and soon revealed themselves to be a flock of 6 LRP's, which was a nice sight.

The next day I came back to the Meadow but there were no yellow wagtails or dunlin or LRP's. However there were a large number of hirundines, mainly swallows and sand martins but at least 3 house martins in amongst them.

Later that day whilst driving on a trip to the local garden centre I spotted a hobby sitting on a lamp post by a dual carriage way. It flew off as we passed.

Yesterday I had an errand to run down in Abingdon so naturally I asked on the local news group about good birding sites and was told of the local sewage works and surrounding lakes. I took a trip down there and found some good fields which could hold some interesting passage waders though I could not see any that day. The lakes were surrounded with either reeds or thick bramble and was ideal warbler territory. There were a number of sedge warblers singing and I managed to get quite a decent view of one singing its heart out from a few metres distance. I was also fortunate enough to come across a cetti's warbler which gave itself away with its loud song and then flew across the path.

This morning I walked around my local patch to look out for warblers. The local trap grounds (scrub and woodland around a small reeded pond) held several chiffchaff, willow warblers and blackcaps but no sign yet of any reed warblers in the reed beds. On the Burgess Field NR I heard a softly reeling grasshopper warbler and soon managed to spy him skulking in the bottom of a bush. At that same moment a whitethroat flew by and sang a few times from the top of a neighbouring bush, giving nice close views before flying off again.

Back at the Meadow that same evening there were a pair of terns hunting and preening. I had a good look at them and a number of pointers confirmed them as arctics rather than commons: short stubby legs, rather dark grey undersides, quite short necks and monochromatic blood red bills.

Quite a few migrant ticks to add to the year list and I'm nearly at my target of 150 already. In hindsight this target was far too small (remember I've not done a year list before) so I'm going to reset it to 175. I think that once the obvious summer arrivals are all in, the year tick rate will probably go right down and I'll be very happy if I can get 175. Of the 10 common warblers I've now seen 7 already so just three to go (garden, reed and lesser whitethroat). I've still got swift to go out of the hirundines and there are other interesting things like whimbrel, common redstart, pied flycatcher etc.to try for as well as sure things like common terns. I've also ruthlessly pruned my life list now so if I can't definitely remember seeing a bird then it's not on the list. This means that officially I've not seen a reed warbler for example, so there should be a few more easy life ticks to pick up along the way.

    140    Egyptian Goose
    141    yellow wagtail
    142    house martin
    143    hobby
    144    sedge warbler
    145    cetti's warbler (LIFER)
    146    grasshopper warbler
    147    whitethroat
    148    arctic tern

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• Sunday, April 20, 2008 - Learning the Art of Sea Watching

We (the family) have just come back from a very nice family holiday that we spent up in Crail in Fife in Scotland with some friends of ours. This provided the perfect opportunity to do some sea watching and to catch up on some sea birds for my year list. In addition it provided quite a few life ticks as in my previous birding incarnation as a boy I never got much of an opportunity to do sea birding.

We decided to stop off at relatives in Cumbria on the way up and in fact managed to be organised enough that we left pretty early and so arrived in the Lakes with an afternoon free to do something. I'd been monitoring (www.ospreywatch.co.uk) the ospreys that nest at Bassenthwaite lake each year though when we'd set off that morning they had still not arrived back. When we arrived I just thought that I would check on the off-chance and low and behold they'd turned up about an hour ago. Such a coincidence was not to be ignored so I suggested that we went to look at them in the afternoon. There is an osprey view point on the far side of the lake where you can go so we duly headed off. There was quite a steep path up to the view point and it was the perfect opportunity to try out our new all-terrain push chair for our 21 month old son L. I'd suggested that we get this so that when I go out birding I don't have to struggle with our present one. The push chair performed admirably and we got to the view point easily enough. I'd informed our children that it might not be there but the female was present, hanging around waiting for the male who'd been temporarily scared away by a passing helicopter. We all got to see the osprey through the swarovski scopes that they provide there. In addition they had a bird feeding station out in case there were no ospreys to see and we got rather nice views of a red squirrel there as well as lots of coal tits (which I'd still not managed to see this year so far).

We arrived in Crail the next day rather late as we'd stopped off at friends in Edinburgh on the way over. After a fish supper at the local chippy we wandered down to the harbour for a quick look. There in the harbour were a flock of eider duck (who are around everywhere on the sea in this area). There were also fulmars nesting on the small cliffs behind the harbour and a rock pipit was hopping around on the harbour wall. There were oystercatchers and redshank on the beach and a sparrow hawk flew over in the dusk. A very nice set of birds to whet the appetite for the holiday.

The rest of the holiday settled into a daily routine of my taking L out for a morning walk in the new super buggy and then once the rest of the people were up we went off to do our holiday things.

Saturday 12th
The first day I thought that I would go back to Crail harbour to see what I could see in the morning light. As well as the usual eider and fulmars there were 3 comic terns which passed by (apparently they are more likely to be artics which breed on nearby Isle of May) and a distant flock of common scoter went by with their distinctive straggly flock formation. There were passing gannets and shags and close in a rather nice red-throated diver still in winter plumage. A smart grey wagtail graced the harbour wall briefly.

Once the kids were up the men folk took them down to a nearby beach for some rock pooling whilst the women went off to do the shopping for the week. There was some sand on this beach so there were a few waders around: curlew, turnstone, redshank, oystercatchers and some purple sandpipers. There were also some golden eye ducks hanging around.

That afternoon as Scottish heritage were having an open day and all their attractions were free, we went to St. Andrews to check out the cathedral and castle. St. Andrews has two beaches and a rather large bay. It is well know for over-wintering velvet scoter though they usually leave at the end of march. Whilst admiring the heritage I managed to keep an eye on the sea (with my bins) and saw some common scoter amongst the eider and also what looked to me like long-tailed ducks. I hoped that I would get a better opportunity to look at these later on in the holiday.

Sunday 13th
For the morning walk with L I went south of the harbour where as well as the usual sea birds I got a good view of a razorbill, loafing around quite close in. I'd been seeing plenty of auks flying past in the distance but had not been able to ID them at that distance. Once everyone was up we went to Shell Bay and Ruddon's Point, a well-known scoter watch point and about the only place where one might see a surf scoter around here. The various members of the party settled down to do their own thing (shell collecting, football on the beach, chatting in the warmth of the car etc.) whilst I took my eldest daughter K around to the Ruddon's point peninsula. It was rather a long walk and we didn't see much apart from 3 little ringed plovers and a couple of shelduck. By the time we arrived K was keen to get back so I didn't actually have very long to scan for scoters. I had some good views of some commons close up but no sign of any velvets or surfs

Monday 14th
For the morning trip with L I went down to Fife Ness, an easterly peninsula and well-known birding spot. There you could do proper sea watching with something coming past every minute or so. There were lots of gannets going by and some rather nice kittiwakes. Also some razorbills went past as well as a couple of unidentified divers. There were turnstone, curlew, oystercatchers, shags and cormorants resting on the rocks.

In the morning we went to Craigton CP where they had an excellent adventure playground on which we all had great fun. Only birds of note were a tree creeper and a coal tit.

The afternoon we went to the beach at St. Andrews where I did some scoping and got good close-up views of the common scoters and also the long-tailed ducks.

Tuesday 15th
Back to Fife Ness again for the morning trip where there was a red-throated diver close in shore again and a couple of great-northern divers flew over close in. Also a pair of velvet scoter flew by, distinctive with their white wing bars.

For the family trips the girls had decided to go on a shopping trip to St. Andrews, and the boys were going off swimming leaving me and L to go on a birding trip. I decided on Guardbridge where there is a hide at the mouth of the Eden estuary. Just as I got there the heavens started to open so we hurried to the shelter of the hide. This turned out to be rather well-equipped and with quite a few birders in it too. L was very good, sitting in his buggy quietly while I scanned the mud flats. There was nothing of great interest: plenty of curlew, oystercatchers, redshank, shelduck, goldeneye etc. After a while I spotted a peregrine sitting on the flats eating a recent catch. One could get a great view of it chewing its prey. There was also a distant wheatear sitting on a ridge. After about an hour L started to get restless and I had a bit of time free still so I decided to go back to St. Andrews to explore the Eden estuary from the other end. There's a long track which takes you out to sand dunes by the estuary and then you can walk down onto the mud flats. L enjoyed scrambling around the dunes and picking up shells on the beach and I got good views of a red-breasted merganser and a long-tailed duck.

Wednesday 16th
Morning trip to Fife Ness where there was not much new apart from a pair of red-throated divers close in including one which was moulting to summer plumage.

In the afternoon most of us went back to the Eden estuary beach to escape the fierce easterly wind. By sheltering behind the dunes one could be quite warm in the sun. There were lots of red-breasted mergansers there, a single long-tailed duck and a moulting red-throated diver as well as the usual curlew and oystercatchers.

Thursday 17th
Back to Fife Ness for the morning trip where I say 3 velvet scoters go by and with the help of a fellow local birder managed to pick out some guillemot amongst a distant flock of auks. He also told me about a firecrest in the local patch just up the road. I went to have a quite look and got a brief view of something but it looked more like a goldcrest to me and I didn't have time to hang around and find it.

In conclusion and excellent holiday from a birding point of view which far exceeded my expectations and the rest of the family all enjoyed the holiday as well. I managed to tick off lots of year sightings as well as a few lifers which, as I mentioned, for historic reasons had eluded me as a boy.

121    Coal Tit
122    Osprey (LIFER)
123    Eider
124    Fulmar
125    Rock Pipit
126    Common Scoter (LIFER)
127    Gannet
128    red-throated diver (LIFER)
129    shag
130    purple sandpiper
131    long-tailed duck (LIFER)
132    razorbill
133    kittiwake
134    great northern diver (LIFER)
135    velvet scoter (LIFER)
136    Peregrine Falcon
137    wheatear
138    red-breasted merganser
139    guillemot

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• Monday, April 7, 2008 - A Plover Fest, a Godwit and a Harrier

After my successful mid-week outing to see the hawfinches, the great grey shrike and to get my new bins I wasn't expecting to do much birding over the weekend. However as it turned out I was able to see some good stuff. There were two brief trips to my local patch, Port Meadow, which turned up some good passage waders and then a trip to Otmoor in the afternoon which saw some harrier action.

Friday had dawned very misty but by lunch time it had burnt off to leave a wonderful sunny and warm spring day. As it was Friday I felt like winding down early from work so at 5pm I took my 20 month son L in his pushchair down to Port Meadow to see what was about. Setting up at the usual point by the entrance to Burgess Field NR a quick scan revealed the usual suspects: ruff, redshank, a large flock of about 250 golden plover. The birds were all rather distant and at that time of day the sun is on the wrong side of them so ID is not easy. I noticed a couple of very small birds who were at such a distance that I couldn't initially make them out. I was going to guess at dunlin and leave it at that but their bills looked wrong. I zoomed right on my scope and gradually as my eyes adjusted to the zoomed-in scope gloom I made out that they were either Ringer or Little Ringed Plovers. However at that distance I couldn't make out the eye ring, nor the bill or leg colour. Fortunately at that point the cavalry turned up in the form of another birder (SB), whom I'd met a few times on the Meadow previously and who was packing a powerful scope (Nikon ED82). I pointed out the birds and he zoomed in. Initially even he couldn't make the telling ID but then one of the birds flapped its wings to reveal no wing bar. Thus a pair of Little Ringed Plover, my first of the year. We carried on chatting and scoping and then I spotted another bird that warranted closer inspection. Again it looked plover-like and was beyond my primitive scope's powers but SB suggested grey plover. There were the flock of goldies to compare against and it did look greyer but that wasn't enough to clinch it. At that point I had to leave for dinner but SB did later e-mail me to say that he's watched it until it flapped it's wings to reveal the telling black "arm pit" and clinch the ID. He also said that a couple of Ringed Plover turned up later as well. So quite a plover fest in the end with all the common plover being present (including the ubiquitous lapwings).

The next morning I went on my daily Port Meadow run, complete with my reserve bins (I don't want to subject my new ones to the rigour of being shaken about as I run). The weather was much colder and there was no sign of any of last night's plovers. However there was single large wader on the far side of the floods. Even through my old bins I could see that it was a godwit in summer plumage and a quick wing flap soon revealed it to be a black tailed godwit. There was little else around though I did have the pleasure of bumping into a couple of other birders whom I'd met previously when they found the Med Gull a while back.

That afternoon I nobly offered to take L out for a few hours while my VLW (very lovely wife) could get on with other stuff. I decided on Otmoor as I'd only been once before and there were some possible birds there that I needed for my year list (harriers, peregrine, merlin, wheatear and cettis warbler). The weather was decidedly mixed with snow flurries and slate-grey skies one minute and then bright sunshine the next. We wrapped up warm and set off, L soon falling asleep in the car and continuing to nap as I pushed him along the path. There was little of note on the bird feeders but just where one got on to the main path there was the loud chirpings of a cettis warbler. I had a good peer around but of course couldn't see it. Walking further along I thought I heard the brief snatch of a sedge warbler but a sudden rain shower put a stop to its singing. On the flooded field by the turn off for the screens (Ash Grove?) there were several redshank, a pintail or two, a large herd of grazing mute swans, a few grey lags, a single barnacle goose (apparently of doubtful provenance), four little egrets and reported also a black swan (which I didn't see). At the first screen there were some swallows battling with the wind and a few tufted ducks and also some little grebes kicking up their usual racket. A water rail had reportedly been showing earlier but was not doing so at present. Onwards to the second screen there was a flooded field with about 20 lapwings loafing about. A couple of grey lag geese flew in to land and then a large raptor flew low over the field scattering it's occupants. I caught a brief glimpse of it as it flew, enough to see that it was a male harrier but not certain enough to nail down the ID. I was not familiar with what the key points are that separate hen and marsh harrier so was going to have to look it up when I got home. I met the local warden who said that it was probably a marsh harrier as the hen's had left already. Anyway, on to the second screen where there were some more noisy little grebes, some tufted duck and shoveler and some sand martins. Behind the screen in the flooded field there was a single little egret. At this point L woke up so we had a little snack and he decided that he wanted to get out of his push chair so I let him walk back, a distance of about a mile. When I got back I looked up the key harrier ID points and decided that it was in fact a hen harrier that I'd seen which was interesting as later on someone else posted a hen harrier on the local news group so I'm more confident in the ID.

Anway, a few more year ticks from an enjoyable few local trips.
118    Little Ringed Plover
119    Black-tailed Godwit
120    Hen Harrier

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• Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - Hawfinches & a Great Grey Shrike

Today was another of my fortnightly mornings off to go birding. I had decided that I wanted to upgrade my 30 year old bins so I devised an itinerary that would include dropping in at Sherwoods in Moran Bagot in Warwickshire. I decided to have one more crack at the Blenheim Palace hawfinches (a potential lifer) before there are too many leaves on the trees, then on to the long-staying great grey shrike at Half Moon Plantation in Gloucestershire, next to Sherwoods and then back home, stopping off at Hillesden in Bucks for the wader scrapes to try for wheatear, yellow wagtail, Little Ringed Plover and Green Sandpiper all of which I need on my year list still.

I got up reassuringly early at 6am and headed off to Blenheim Palace grounds once again. The weather was quite mild and calm but it was rather overcast. I wasted no time in going to the target area, pausing only to see a buzzard sitting on a post at close range and a lingering redwing in a tree. The grass was rather wet underfoot and my shoes are not as waterproof as they once were leaving my feet rather wet and cold. I remembered that I had found this last time I came and wondered why I'd not learnt from this experience and brought my wellies! Anyway, I'd sought advice on the hawfinches since my last visit and narrowed down my search to a much smaller area. The tactics now were more about waiting around scanning a group of tall trees. A greenfinch and a chaffinch gave a couple of false alarms and I was left waiting and watching the blue tits squabbling nearby. Then I noticed a couple of strange finches in the tree tops and got my bins to my eyes just long enough to see them in profile before they flew. There was not much mistaking a bill of that size and though it had been a very brief view they were my first hawfinches. An excellent start to the day as to be honest I'd been expecting another blank.

Next back to the car and with the heating set to full blast directed at my feet to dry them out I set off for darkest Gloucestershire. I'd not ventured this way much before so it was interesting to pass through the Cotswold villages and their lovely sandstone colours. Turning off the main road to find the Half Moon Plantation I found myself in wonderful farmland country with plenty of scrubby bushes around. Driving slowly I managed to see a yellowhammer in a bush on the way before locating the crossroads and parking. I was not sure what I was expecting but the plantation was a coniferous one and didn't look very "shrikey" so I concentrated instead on the disused quarry on the other side of the road. Nothing was immediately visible so I walked down the side road, scanning the tops of the bushes - it's fortunate that shrikes tend to like sitting somewhere prominent! After about 50 yards I saw a grey blob on a bush top in the distance and quickly confirmed that it was indeed the bird in question. I even got out my scope to have a go at digiscoping but the results were not very impressive. After a while the shrike dipped out of sight so I thought that I would wander around to see what else I could see. I found some more yellow hammers and heard a lesser spotted woodpecker calling from somewhere nearby in the plantation. As I walked back to the car the shrike flew across the field and to my astonishment actually started hovering like a kestrel for about a minute before flying on. I didn't realise that they did this. As I got back into the car to drive off I spotted a larger than average crow-like bird in the opposite field. As it flew off I got a view of it through the bins and it confirmed my suspicions that it was in fact a raven - another tick for the year list.

Next on the Moran Bagot, getting only briefly lost amongst the back roads though I did manage to see my first swallow of the year sitting in classic pose on a telegraph wire. As far as the bins were concerned I was going to buy the Opticron Verano's and needed to decide between the 8x42's and the 10x42's. Unusually, the field of view and weight were almost identical for the two so I was tempted by the 10's. At Sherwoods they have a rather nice garden full of bird feeders so there's always plenty to look at. Whilst I was testing out the bins I noticed to my surprise that there was a Marsh Tit coming to one of the feeders. I was most pleased about this as I'd been trying to see one all year. As far as the bins were concerned in the end I chose the 8's because the image was better: there seemed to be too much chromatic aberration when viewing sharp edges against the sky in the 10's.

I set off back for home down the motorway. As I got to my turn-off I was in two minds whether to press on for Hillesdon or to go straight home as it was getting late and I was feeling tired from my early start. I started off for Hillesdon while I thought about it and was in fact nearly there when I looked at the petrol gauge and realised that I was almost out. I didn't want to be stranded in the middle of no where without petrol so I turned round and headed for home, stopping off to refuel on the way.

A surprisingly good day out with one lifer and 5 new year ticks. I also had a Willow Warbler on the Meadow earlier in the week as another year tick. I do realise that compared to seasoned birders my year list is woefully inadequate but I console myself with the knowledge that my excursions are rather restricted at present what with family and child-care commitments so I can't be out twitching all the time. My target for the year is 150 - if I can get that then I will be well pleased.

112    Willow Warbler
113    Hawfinch (LIFER)
114    Great Grey Shrike
115    Raven
116    Swallow
117    Marsh Tit

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• Monday, March 24, 2008 - A local Garganey

As this weekend was Easter weekend I didn't expect to do much birding. Nevertheless I seemed to have managed a few nice sightings in between meeting various relatives and eating more than usual.

On Easter Sunday we went off to my brother-in-law's to meet my VLW's (very lovely wife's) family. On the way there I suggested to my children that they look out for jays which you can sometimes see flying over the M25 and in fact I offered some chocolate incentive of some kind. We didn't actually spot any on the motorway but when we arrived I nipped out into his back garden for 5 minutes so that my 20 month old son could stretch his legs and low and behold there was a jay skulking around in the trees. That was another of these relatively common woodland birds that I'd somehow not managed to see so far this year so I was pleased to see this one.

Today (Easter Monday) I was itching to go and twitch the red-throated diver which was down at Coates Water CP near Swindon. However this would have meant that I would have been away for several hours and my VLW thought that this was a bit anti-social so in the end I settled for my local patch, namely Port Meadow with my son L in tow once more in his push chair. The flood waters were getting back to their more usual size having been at veritable lake proportions recently. There were 4 curlews loafing around in the distance and the usual redshanks and ruffs scurrying around though I couldn't see any dunlin today. There was a very large (at least 500) flock of golden plover as well. I scanned carefully through the ducks as someone had mentioned seeing a garganey a day or two ago but could only find the usual widgeon, teal, shoveler, gadwall and a single drake pintail. Having missed the Meadow Med. Gull recently I dutifully scanned the few BHG's that were present and thought that I had one. It was only when I zoomed in really closely that I saw a bit of black tucked away on the primaries. I even took a photo (I'm starting to experiment with digiscoping) and it does look like a good candidate Med Gull so it just shows how careful you have to be.

This afternoon we were discussing en famille what to do. My eldest daughter K wanted to go ice skating and my younger daughter B was keen to go too so I kindly offered to take L whilst the rest of them went skating with my VLW. This gave me an opportunity to nip down to Farmoor reservoir where a Garganey had been hanging around Shrike Meadow for the last week or so and which had been seen that morning. With L immediately falling asleep for his afternoon nap I strode off with the push chair down the causeway, keeping an eye out for anything of interest on the way. I saw the long-staying water pipit and also a grey wagtail. There were loads (30,+) pied wagtails around but I couldn't see any whites. When I reached the Shrike Meadow hide there were several birders there who said that the Garganey was nowhere to be seen. Another birder who had just arrived set up his scope and almost immediately picked it out from amongst a dense patch of reeds. He let me have a look through his scope and as well as seeing a very nice drake garganey (my first) I was amazed and the magnificiation and clarity of his scope (a Swarowski). I shall have to get one if I come into a bit of money. The garganey duely obliged by coming out into the open and I even had a go at some more digiscoping.

Another 3 ticks for the year list and another Life tick
109: jay
110: water pipit
111: garganey (LIFER)

Here are the fruits of my feeble digi-scoping efforts:

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• Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - Finally a Mediterranean Gull!

I have come up with a new policy on birding which is that once a fortnight I allow myself the morning off from work to go on a birding trip. Today I had decided to do a couple of relatively nearby trips: firstly looking for hawfinches in Blenheim Palace Park (an elusive speciality of the area) and then on to Wilstone reservoir in Herts looking for Ruddy duck and to see the black-necked grebes that are currently there. Now you may think that going especially to see something as common as a ruddy duck is a bit strange but when I did my purge of my life list, removing all the birds that I can't remember whether I've seen or not, the ruddy duck was one of those up against the wall so I thought that it would be a relatively easy tick. Also I'd recently learnt about this appalling cull of them that is going on at present and wanted to see one before they are all wiped out.

To catch the hawfinches apparently requires going very early and hunting around the back of the Palace Gardens behind the miniature train in Blenheim Park so I got up at 6am and was out of the house by 6:30 and parking outside the Park Lane gate entrance by 6:45. It was a lovely morning: bright but with a bit of a nip in the air. The park was looking great with hardly a soul about. I got to the area where the trees began and started scanning the area. I soon heard a nuthatch calling and managed to find it not far away. This was my first of the year and one of the common but as yet unseen year-list birds that I was also hoping to find as a back-up in case the hawfinches didn't show, the others being treecreeper, jay and coal tit. I carefully scanned the trees as I walked along to the palace itself. There wasn't actually that much about: a few blue and great tits and I heard a GS and a Green woodpecker and a goldcrest that I couldn't actually locate, but no hawfinches. Back where I'd seen the nuthatch I heard a call that I'd only recently learnt and managed to find the treecreeper in question. So no hawfinches but a useful couple of year ticks.

Next on to the Tring reservoirs which proved to be a bit of a longer journey than I'd anticipated so I didn't arrive till about 09:30. Climbing the reservoir steps I was greeted with the sight of a lot of birds on the water in silhouette as the sun was in the wrong position. I therefore decided to walk around to the hide where I'd getter better lighting as well as some shelter from the nippy breeze. As I walked around I saw a very smart-looking grey wagtail on the bank which was a pleasant sight. Walking through the woods to the hide there was a chiffchaff singing loudly. In the hide itself I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow birder who quickly pointed out the two black-necked grebes in summer plumage as well as a pair of goldeneye. In the light of my missing the Med. Gull on port meadow recently I decided to give all the BHG's a thorough scan. Towards the end of the scan I saw a gull with a distinctly different dark head and a thicker bill as well as pale primaries. We'd been joined by another birder in the hide now so it was with some trepidation that I announced that I thought that I'd found a Med. Gull. I pointed it out to the others and just as they found it it decided to take to the air so we got a really clear view of the white primaries and the lack of the white leading edge to the wings - clearly a smart adult Mediterranean Gull in full summer plumage and something that I'd only seen once before in the distance as a boy along time ago so a great sighting. Back outside the hide I got a bit excited when I saw a small bird in the scrub as there'd been a firecrest there recently but it turned out to be a goldcrest. Walking around to the other side of the reservoir I managed to see a white wagtail but no sign of the wheatear that was supposed to be by the jetty. There were also lots of sand martins about. So no ruddy duck but a great Med. Gull instead and my first sighting of a BNG in summer plumage.

Back in the car I nipped off to the local cafe for a warming cup of tea and a slice of cake before starting to head back. On the way back I decided to nip in to Weston Turville reservoir where a bittern had been showing recently during the day. The reservoir itself was pretty small with reeds all down one side. There were remarkably few birds on the water: just a few coots and GC grebes. In the hide itself I had a good scan round and managed to locate a grey heron which was giving a good bittern impersonation by hiding motionless in the reeds! I also saw a couple of reed buntings and a grey wagtail. Another birder arrived and told me that there'd been a cetti's warbler, marsh tit and water rail there on Sunday. We waited around for a bit and heard a water rail or two ourselves but little else. A pretty location with lots of potential but I got the feeling that one maybe had to wait around along time for the possibility of anything interesting actually turning up.

No new lifers for this trip but four new year ticks including a couple of common woodland birds that I was starting to wonder about:
105 Nuthatch
106 Treecreeper
107 Grey wagtail
108 Mediterranean Gull

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• Monday, March 17, 2008 - The Sand Martins arrive and various oddities turn up

This weekend was made up, from a birding point of view, of a couple of brief trips out to Port Meadow. On Saturday at around mid-day I headed out with my son L in the pushchair to see what was around. I had heard that the Little Stint was still about and wanted to get a better view of it. The waders were all conveniently close and the light was good. I was able to get an excellent view of the Little Stint which was still hanging out with 12 dunlin. There were also 8 redshank and 3 ruff around as well as plenty of golden plover and lapwings. I also noticed 10 gadwall amongst the usual widgeon, teal and shoveler, though the pintails seem all to have departed. I also found one oystercatcher having a rest on the mud flats which was a first for me on the Meadow though not that great an achievement since I'd only really been looking since my re-discovery of birding about September last year.

On Sunday I went out with the pushchair again and also with my very lovely wife for a brief walk on the Meadow. This time I didn't have my scope with me as my VLW doesn't take too kindly to standing around in the cold whilst I scan the distant horizon, so it was just the bins today. The overnight rain had turned the wonderful mud flats back into a lake with any possible waders relegated to the far distance. However there were plenty of newly arrived sand martins hawking over the water which was a most welcome sight. I counted at least 15 feeding on the flies over the water. As we were leaving I heard a familiar cry and looked up to see a solitary curlew flying overhead. I watched it as it came in to land on the distant shoreline - another first for me for the Meadow.

The next day (Monday) I went for my usual run down to the Meadow only to find that the "lake" had doubled in size. I decided to run through the Burgess Field NR next door to see where the floods ended. There was not a great deal around in the NR but I was able to look over to the end of the floods where the wild fowl were assembled. I also noticed on the river Thames itself a single Barnacle Goose was swimming around with a couple of Canada Geese.

These various oddities have moved my year list on a few ticks. Once the summer migrants arrive in full force of course there will be plenty more to add.
101: oystercatcher
102: sand martin
103: curlew
104: barnacle goose

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• Thursday, March 13, 2008 - First Singing Chiffchaff of the year and a Little Stint

This morning I went on my usual run which now involves a gentle jog with my bins around the local birding spots to warm up followed by a full-tilt run back home.

This morning I went to the Trap Grounds by the canal which consists of a small wood around a heavily reeded pond. I was looking specifically for marsh, willow and coal tits which admittedly aren't known for the area but I thought I'd give it a try - no luck today though. However I did find a chiffchaff which obliged me by singing to identify itself - a pleasant reminder that spring is just around the corner.

Back home, just after lunch I checked on Bird Guides to see that a Little Stint had be spotted on Port Meadow so I quickly nipped out on my bike to see if I could find it. The floods are comparatively large there to find such a tiny bird so I wasn't overly optimistic. I decided that my best bet was to see if it was hanging out with the flock of dunlin that are usually present. A quick scan with my scope found 6 redshank, 4 ruff and then in the distance a few dunlin. I moved to a closer location to check through the dunlin and then I spotted something smaller amongst them and there it was! I was very pleased with this sighting as it's only the second one I've ever seen, the first being last autumn also on Port Meadow.

The stint brings up the 100 for my year list:
099: chiffchaff
100: little stint

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• Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - Weekend outings and a Barn Owl

This weekend just gone I didn't get to go on a serious birding trip so had to confine myself to various bijou tripettes.

To start with I nipped down to Port Meadow for about half an hour to check what was about. There were the usual redshank and ruff, only a single dunlin and about 300 golden plover. There were still plenty of pintails which are very handsome ducks, as well as the usual widgeon, teal, shoveler and gadwall.

That afternoon my 18 month old son L had a party to go to. I dropped him and my wife off and found that I had 2 hours before I had to pick them up so I headed off to Farmoor reservoir. I particularly wanted to check out the wood to the south of FII where some Marsh tits had been seen recently and I'd not been on the country-side walk there before so I thought that I'd give it a go. It was a rather overcast and very windy day and regrettably there were no birds in the wood. Nothing to be seen at Buckthorn nor Shrike Meadow but at Pinkhill there was a kingfisher, 6 gadwall and one tufted duck. I also saw 3 bullfinches on the path leading up to the hide. Walking back along the causeway I saw 3 linnets but very few wildfowl.

The next day we went for a family outing to Blenheim Palace. We went in the Combe gate entrance which we'd not been in before. The troops were rebelling somewhat and were making rather a racket. I incentivised the girls by giving them points according to the rarity of the birds that they saw which could then be exchanged for a treat (chocolate) if they got enough. Together we saw a couple of red kites, a grey heron, 3 fieldfares, loads of pheasants and jackdaws and BH gulls. I heard a jay and a nuthatch both of which I still need for my year list but didn't get to see them.

So not a great weekend from a birding point of view. Monday morning despite the "great storm of 2008" I went on my usual run on the Meadow and through Burgess Field NR. It was there that I saw a barn owl hawking over the fields at close quarters - a great sight. There were also a couple of deer, 3 reed buntings and a green woodpecker. The Meadow itself had the usual redshank and ruff and about 500 golden plover.

Just one addition to the year list:
098: Barn Owl

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• Thursday, March 6, 2008 - Cotswold Smew and a Great Bustard bonus!

As I work from home with a great deal of flexibility I have decided that I should periodically reward myself with a little mid-week birding outing. After all my boss (who lives in Switzerland) goes snow-boarding one morning a week. So this morning I decided to take a trip to the Cotswold Water Park to try and see some of the winter visiting ducks before they all leave. In particular I wanted to target smew and scaup, both of which I'd missed on my trip to Staines reservoir and both of which were being seen regularly at the CWP. I did my research and had decided that I was going to go for lakes 46/48 and then 29 and finally pit 95 to see if the Great White Egret was still there.

I woke up early this morning to a clear but cold day. I was wondering whether the lakes would all be frozen and whether this would be better or worse for seeing the birds but I decided to take a chance anyway. I'd noticed on Port Meadow that the ducks hang around quite stoically when the water freezes over. The drive there was uneventful and I arrived at the vistor centre at about 9:30 to get a map and to ask about parking and access etc.

I managed to find 46 ok though initially there didn't seem to be much around, just a few great crested grebes and coots. Then right at the far bank I saw something with a reddish head though it quickly swam behind some submerged trees. It looked like a redhead smew though I'd not got a good enough view to confirm it. Then it flew away and I saw the wing bars which seemed to clinch it. Pleased with myself I then walked around to 48 where there was an obvious viewing point. A few pochards and tufted ducks and a couple of ducks that had me really puzzled: they were about tufted duck size and there seemed to be a duck and a drake: they swam around together and seemed to be a pair but I just couldn't ID them. I was looking into the sun so the colours weren't clear but I could see it well enough and couldn't match it to anything in the guide book. The closest I could come up with was a female goldeneye and then it twigged: it was a female and a juvenile goldeneye. My thinking they were a duck and drake had really confused me.

On to the next lake complex which was 29, 30 and 35. I just got to lake 30 and with the naked eye could see a few distant white blobs. They'll be gulls or something I thought but I'd better check. To my great surprise they turned out to be drake smews. In fact there were two drakes and a duck as well as several goosander. Really pleased with myself I walked on towards lake 29, seeing a mixed flock of goldfinches, chaffinches and reed buntings feeding by the path. There was a large flock of widgeon grazing on the grass at the top of 29. Walking round to the side I managed to see another drake smew and then at the far size there was a female smew, a pair of red-crested pochard, more goosander and then right in the distance a couple of drake scaup about which I was most chuffed. On the way back I saw another pair of smew on lake 35 - one of the drakes from 30 having been chased off. So that was 3 pairs of smew - a most excellent find.

Time was marching on but I nipped down to pit 95 where a great white egret had been seen recently though not in the last few days so I wasn't expecting much. It was interesting terrain: a disused gravel pit with lots of small pools of water between lots of hillocks. All I could see here was a little egret plus a quantity of shoveler and teal and a pair of gadwall.

I decided to head off home but thought that I would go back a different route in order to see if I could find the great bustard that was part of the release scheme and which had been showing well at Foss Cross in the last few days. I found the location and started scanning the area. I saw a parked car in the layby and asked the occupant if he was a birder but he was just making a phone call. Further on I saw a birder scanning a field with his bins. He reckoned that it was the correct field and I did agree that it looked right from the photos I'd seen but there was no obvious sign of a bustard. I set up my scope and started scanning and then I caught sight of a small grey object which on closer inspection turned out to the the head of the bustard which was sitting down in the kale crop. Shortly after it got up and began wandering about seemingly quite happy and not minding his two distant admirers. A great way to finish off the trip.

I don't know what the normal position is with regards to released birds and "ticks". I know that the plethora of red kites that are around Oxon, Bucks, Berks etc are all originally released birds which are now well established. I'm going to count it for now, partly because my year list needs boosting though I appreciate that it's not strictly kosher.

I've also been through my life list and eradicated all the birds that I wasn't sure I'd seen from my earlier days including scaup so that made 3 life ticks on the trip. Most excellent! My year list is now approaching 100.

095 Smew (LIFER)
096 Scaup (LIFER)
097 Great Bustard (Release scheme - LIFER)

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• Monday, March 3, 2008 - Port Meadow Ruddy Shelduck

I've not been able to get out for a proper birding session this weekend as we had guests over for Mothers Day. However on Saturday I managed a quickie 45 minutes on Port Meadow. I'm very lucky to have such a great spot no more than a couple of minutes bike ride from my front door.

I nipped out and managed to see 5 redshank, 5 ruff and 6 dunlin. There were also 2 common shelduck on the floods which have been there for the last few days. The usual ducks were there in great numbers as well (widgeon, teal, shoveler, pintail and gadwall) as well as lapwings and about 50 golden plover. There were also the usual gulls (BH, LBB, Common, GBB + Herring). I keep looking through the BHG for Med gulls but have yet to spot one on the Meadow.

On Sunday, myself and a few of the guests went out for a post-lunch walk. We went over to the far side of the river (the other side from the Meadow floods for those who know Port Meadow). I had taken my bins and was keeping a weather eye out for anything unusual when I spotted some unusal ducks - larger than the rest of them and an usual reddish colour. A quick look through the bins confirmed them as ruddy shelduck which was a good find. I had heard that someone had seen a pair about a week ago on the Meadow though they'd not been on the floods at all, just the common shelduck. There were a pair of ruddies at Farmoor reservoir a while back so it may be the same ones. I've no idea about their provenance and they may well be escapee's but I'm happy to included them on my year list.

Two new entries for the year list:
093: Common Shelduck
094: Ruddy Shelduck

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• Friday, February 22, 2008 - Staines Black-necked Grebes

After my series of misses on my recent Brighton trip I thought that I need to twitch a reasonably "sure thing" for my life list. After all it has been almost a month since my last tick and I was getting keen to make another. Staines reservoir had been attracting lots of interesting birds and earlier this week had seen a juvenile Great Northern Diver, some scaup, smew and several black-necked grebes. I thought that at least some of these birds should still be there if I were to make the drive down so I gave myself the day off (one of the perks of working freelance) and headed down to Staines which was about an hour's drive away.

The weather was comparatively mild with a light westerly wind though quite chilly on the exposed reservoir causeway. There were several other birders present but no one had seen the GN Diver so it looked like I'd drawn a blank there. I systematically worked my way along the reservoir and saw lots of the usual stuff: tufted ducks, goldeneye, black-headed and common gulls, coots, great crested grebes and finally my first black-necked grebes and very pretty they were too. They were quite close to the causeway so one could get a good view of them. Also seen on the reservoir were shoveler, widgeon, teal, gadwall, some mute swans, a flock of fieldfares, some meadow pipits, a flock of stock doves, a few cormorants and a lone female pochard.

Whilst I was there I got to chatting with a fellow birder who, when he found out that I was from Oxford, told me that he was born in the John Radcliff hospital there, the same one in which my three children were born. I am guessing that this chap was retired as he'd just been down to Norfolk for a few weeks for the geese flocks and had seen the Cley white-crowned sparrow. It must be an enjoyable way to spend one's retirement swanning around the country looking at birds. Personally, though, I am still some way off from that!

To finish off I nipped round the corner to my mother-in-laws who happens to live near by for a quick cup of tea before heading back up the motorway, pleased with an enjoyable few hours birding.

So only one of the four target birds actually made an appearance - the BN grebes have actually been consistently present for some time there so they were a pretty sure bet. Interestingly enough I'm not sure whether I've actually seen a scaup before! In my previous birding incarnation I'd seen a variety of water fowl but I can't actually remember whether scaup was one of them and my original life list is actually in the loft at present so I'm not sure whether a scaup would have been a tick or not. No doubt I'll see one again relatively soon so it should soon become academic as to whether I'd see it before.

One more tick for the year list as well:

092 Black-necked grebe (LIFER)

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• Wednesday, February 20, 2008 - Brighton Black Redstart

This weekend just gone my family and I went down to Brighton for a family break. Brighton is my wife's old stomping ground from college and she likes to go back there occasionally. The rest of the family wanted to wander the Lanes shopping but as this was of no interest to me I thought that I would take the opportunity to do a bit of birding in a different location. The great thing about the internet is that I was able to do my research in advance and even ask local birders for detailed directions to make the most of the limited time that I had available. In the end I had four hours free birding (even without the usual pushchair to cart around) and I was determined to make the most of it.

The first stop was Southwick Canal where a 1st winter Glaucous Gull had been loitering for some time now. I found the location ok and there were plenty of gulls hanging around but unfortunately no sign of the GG. I was also told to check Shoreham power station for a possible Peregrine but again no luck.

I next went down to Wide Water lagoon where there had been a long-tailed duck for some time though it hadn't been seen recently. This is a long narrow lagoon close to the sea shore. There were a smattering of gulls present a few redshanks, a few ringed plover and a couple of stonechats. A flock of about 30 ringed plover also flew over.

The next stop was Shoreham old fort which is by the entrance to Shoreham harbour. Here I found a black redstart showing well sitting on a wire fence. There were supposed to be purple sandpipers on the harbour wall but a couple of fishermen there had presumably scared them off. I did see a few turnstone around though and had a nice view of a linnet at close range.

Whilst driving round the area I discovered a spot of my own which hadn't been mentioned to me. There were some house boats moored on the estuary of the river Adur and one could walk along the boardwalk and peer between the boats at the mud flats behind them. This was a good opportunity to see some waders at fairly close range. I found some more Ringed Plover, plenty of dunlin, redshanks and teal and a couple of grey plover. Whilst none of these are terribly rare or exciting, for someone from Oxfordshire which is about as far away as one can get from the sea, the chance to see a few waders close up is always interesting.

I still had an hour left of my allotted time so I thought that I would scoot over to Piddinghoe near Newhaven where there was supposed to be a Cattle Egret in residence. It took longer than I thought to get there but I found the village and the donkey field in which the bird was meant to be. However there was someone walking about in the field (presumably the owner) and there was no Cattle Egret to be seen. I did meet another birder looking for it too and he pointed out a Little Egret in a small pond on the opposite side of the road.

I managed to persuade the family to go back via the scenic route that would stop off at Southwick canal again for the Glaucous and then take a detour to West Wittering (near Hayling island) and East Lavant where there were two more long-staying Cattle Egrets. Again no luck with the Glaucous though I subsequently found out on the internet that it had been loafing round the other side of a huge pile of gravel that morning. We continued on our journey but a sick daughter in the car meant that people got less and less keen on wide detours so we decided to drop Wittering and to have our picnic lunch in Lavant. The latter turned out to be a very pretty little village with a lovely river flowing through it. I managed to track down the appropriate location for the egrets. As I started down the track I even met someone walking a dog who said that the egrets where in a field just a few hundred yards away. I quickly found them but when I put scope to eye I discovered that they were three Little Egrets. I scanned the rest of the fields but couldn't see any other birds - so another blank drawn.

It was great to go birding in a different location and to see some more waders though I must confess to being a little disappointed with missing the Glaucous and both Cattle Egrets. This did get me thinking though: one the great enjoyment with birding and lists is the prospect of getting another lifer. However this must be a diminishing prospect as one ticks off more and more things. Perhaps I should be more patient about getting some of these ticks too quickly as otherwise I will run out of this pleasurable experience too quickly.

The year list has taken a leap forward with all the waders that I saw (though I did actually get the redshank in Oxford mid-week on Port Meadow). I'm now approaching the 100 mark which I feel reasonably proud off though I am aware that top birders can hit this level in one day on a bird race! Anyway, one aspect that I like about birding is that it's a personal quest rather than a competition with others so I'm happy with my list and am enjoying it thoroughly (though my wife does worry that I'm already becoming a little obsessed).

086 Redshank
087 Black Redstart
088 Turnstone
089 Ringed Plover
090 Grey Plover
091 Little Egret

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About Me

I used to be a birder in my youth but rather lost interest in my teens as other things became more interesting. However recently I've rediscovered this interest and would like to share my sightings and thoughts in this blog.

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