After a frustrating day at work being stuck in the house all day I thought that I would head up to the downs to clear my head and have a look round. I arrived at about 8:30pm with the sun out and the wind starting to die down to a gentle breeze.  I was fortunate enough to meet a fellow birder just returning from his walk who was watching a barn owl hunt over some fields. I joined him in watching the owl and he also filled me in on good spots to investigate. As I walked off in the direction he suggested, with the sun bathing the hills in a beautiful orange glow and the yellow hammers, corn buntings and whitethroats all singing away, I was thinking to myself that there’s no better place to be on a summer’s evening than this type of habitat.

As I walked along I was constantly amazed by the sheer numbers of corn burntings around. It was also interesting to learn their wide variety of calls apart from their usual song trill. After a while  I came to some more open spots. A quick scan through the bins revealed plenty of lapwings and red-legged partridges as well as lots of rabbits. A scolding churr revealed the presence of an incoming grey partridge which touched-down in the same field. It’s always a pleasure to see this increasingly rare partridge.

As I started to head back, I heard the unmistakable "whit-whit-whit" of a calling quail. I listened for some minutes but of course it was deep under cover. As I walked back in what was now the gathering dusk I heard the distant call of a second bird. Nearing where I parked the car I saw the barn owl again sitting on a post. Close by I could see a smaller blob and a look through the bins revealed a little owl surveying the countryside from his vantage point.

A wonderful evening’s visit to one of my favourite habitats. I shall certainly be back to enjoy some more downland sightings.

Another tick for the year list:
180: little owl

Deep in the summer doldrums as we now are, I have been finding it hard to get new ticks. I’ve been continuing to frequent my local patch on Port Meadow though there is not much of interest there at present. Someone had spotted a couple of egyptian geese at the Wolvercote end of the Meadow and I managed to see them after a few dips. My wife and I also enjoyed a pleasant evening stroll on the common there, which is an area to which we’d not been before.

In pursuit of my year ticks, I had been tipped off that mandarin ducks (one of my summer hit list birds) were to be found on the two small ponds at the Combe Gate entrance to Blenheim park and so I took a mid-week evening trip down there with my younger daughter B and my 2 year old son L in tow. It was quite a windy evening but relatively sheltered in the woods. There was some bird life around, the highlights being a possible calling Marsh tit and a singing goldcrest but the only ducks on pond were mongrel hybrid ones so no ticks there. B did manage to spot a fox running through the bracken which was nice.

At the weekend my VLW (very lovely wife) needed to go shopping for some stuff for B, leaving me looking after L so naturally it seemed rude not to have a bijou tripette out birding somewhere. I decided on Otmoor as it was somewhere I’d not been to for a while but was relatively close by. The weather was overcast and threatening but it was quite warm when L and I arrived mid-afternoon. With no particular expectations (given that it was June) I set off with L in his all-terrain push-chair to see what was about with a purring turtle dove by the car park to serenade us on our way.

There were a couple of volunteer RSPB wardens around and we soon got chatting. Apparently there’d not been much about of interest though someone had recently reported a calling (and briefly sighted) quail along the main path near the seat. We wandered along more or less together spotting birds as we went. There were a large number of crows in the middle of the main field for some reason. The turtle dove also flew into a tree ahead of us showing briefly but well. The usual warblers were about though calling in a rather subdued manner as befitted the time of day and year: grasshoppers warblers by the car park, sedgies and reedies along the main drag and cettis in the bushes. As we walked along in the distance I spotted what looked like a tern and so it turned out to be. In fact there were a pair of common terns, which was rather unusual for Otmoor. There were also a number of snipe which were flying up out of the main field, flying to quite a height and then either back down again or off into the distance. I don’t know whether some unseen predator was flushing them out but it seemed to me to be rather unusual behaviour. There were also a large number of tiny baby frogs hopping all over the path and one had to be careful not to run them over with the push-chair.

Arriving at the Ash Grove pool we scanned around to see what was about. A couple of hobbies soon showed themselves and then the female marsh harrier put in an appearance. It had been around the reserve for some time now but it was good to see it again. A little egret flew in and disappeared in the ditch that runs across the field. A grey heron was also hunting, wading through the reeds so that all you could see was it’s head sticking out in a rather comical manner. A couple of redshank were calling and flying around frequently. Apparently the RSPB are going to put in a proper hide (as opposed to just a screen) at the side of this pool and are going to develop it for waders, which should be really good.

I then debated whether to go on the path towards Noke or to go to the first screen. L was getting restless and the path to the screen is very easy for him to walk along so I decided on that option. Getting him out, I gave him a small chocolate muffin to nibble and we ambled off in that direction. I would walk ahead and then turn around and encourage him until he caught up but he’s actually quite a good walker and can go quite long distances in this fashion. There were the usual sedge warblers and reed buntings to be seen as we made our slow progress towards the screen.

Arriving at the screen initially there looked to be nothing present but gradually the birds appeared: several coots and shovelers, a great-crested grebe and a dabchick and a small duck that was diving almost continually. A glance through the bins revealed the pleasant surprise of a ruddy duck. Unfortunately it soon moved off round the corner of the reeds and out of sight but I was most pleased with this as not only do I need it for my year list but it is also one of the birds which I can’t remember seeing in my youth so it was technically also a life tick. It was also one of the few birds which are designated as "common" on Bird Guides (who use common, local, scarce, rare and mega for the five categories) which I still hadn’t seen so I was pleased to get it.

Heading back at a gentle stroll we saw a soaring buzzard, a hovering kestrel and a low-flying sparrow hawk all hunting in their own way. A few more snipe also flew up and there were even more frogs to avoid. The turtle dove was still around purring and there were loads of skylarks singing all around us. Just at the end a couple of red-legged partridges shot low over the path and into the main field. All in all it had been a surprisingly good day at Otmoor with plenty of interesting birds to see and a bonus tick for the list to boot.

The summer hit list hasn’t been improved upon at all but with the prospect of a trip to look for quail and stone curlew coming up that should with any luck change soon enough.

179: ruddy duck (LIFER – technically)

It was time for one of my fortnightly outings and as there was not much that was twitchable within striking distance I decided once again to work on my summer hit list. Having successfully seen the nightjar, woodcock and dartford warbler I thought that I would have another crack at the willow tit. I say "another" as I had tried a few weeks ago with a brief Sunday afternoon trip to New Bottle wood just over the border in Northants. It was a very nice little wood but on a Sunday afternoon it was full of families walking and whilst there were plenty of goldcrests, treecreepers and the commoner warblers about, there was no sign of any willow tits. I may well return there in a quieter moment to see what I can see but for today I thought that I would try Combe Wood, which was supposed to be a "sure thing" for willow tits in Berkshire and was apparently often used by bird racing teams to tick off this bird. Given that it was mid June I was thinking that no bird is going to be a sure thing as they are all skulking around feeding their youngsters but it would be nice to visit somewhere new and I thought that I’d give it a go anyway.

I set off at around 9am and about three quarters of an hour later found myself navigating lots of tiny single track roads in deepest darkest West Berkshire. The countryside was very pretty with lots of fields, and meadows interspersed with deciduous woodland and pretty villages with reassuringly large houses and manors. The start of the walk was by an old 12th century church at the bottom of a hill so I put on my walking boots and set off up the footpath. The path is initially surrounded by a narrow corridor of trees and bushes on one side with open fields beyond that. I had swotted up on the willow tit calls the night before and was listening out carefully but it was rather windy and there was very little bird calling going on at all.  After a short while I reached the top of the hill and there was a field to one side with a thin strp of quite large trees heading off at right-angles. Within this strip there was a bird calling which sounded "interesting". By that I mean that it wasn’t one of the common species whose calls I know. In fact it sounded closest to a tree pipit but rather than the full song, just the last few notes. Unfortunately it was only singing intermittently and there was no obvious path in that direction so reluctantly I decided not to pursue it further.

I didn’t have a map with me as I always study the terrain carefully in advance and can usually remember where I need to go. In this instance however I was somewhat stumped as I’d reached the top of the hill and yet there was no obvious wood. I wasted about 20 minutes going down a side track to a small wood but though I got within it there was no path at all and I decided that I could not be in the correct place. I did manage to see a red-legged partridge for my troubles though.

I eventually concluded that I had to go down the other side of the hill a little way where I could see some trees in the the distance and this proved to be correct. The wood was a pleasant mix of tree types and fortunately there was in fact some bird activity within it though once again it was mostly contact calls and subtle movement within the tree canopies. I managed to see several flocks of feeding great tits, a blackcap, I heard a treecreeper and saw a couple of nuthatches. There were several pheasants calling in the undergrowth and I saw a willow warbler/chiffchaff briefly. After a while I came to a natural point where I could turn around and decided that I would do so. With so little calling it was going to be very hard going finding a willow tit if I were to carry on so I headed back to the car, keeping my ears open hopefully all the while. It was a nice little site and I would certainly like to return when the birds are more cooperative.

I quickly nipped over to Walbury Hill, which was a local "viewing point" to see the view. Since it had now started to rain there wasn’t that much to see but I did see a red kite and a kestrel without having to get out of the car. At that point I decided to head on for home and drove back through the villages to the main road. I had been contemplating opping in at Greenham Common on the way back just to see what it was like but as time was getting on I decided to leave that for another time. Back on the A34 I had just passed the M4 turn-off when the traffic ground to a halt. There had obviously been an accident up ahead and for the next half an hour or so we crawled along very slowly so I decided to pull in at West Ilsley and to nip up to Bury Down until the traffic cleared.

The downs were looking great in their summer "attire". I’d last seen them when I came for the dotterel and the main field was bare and full of stones. Now it was full of rape and the surrounding areas sported tall grasses with summer flowers. What was more, the air was full of bird song! After the effort of trying to see anything at all in the wood it was refreshing to hear skylarks and corn buntings every few yards. There were also a few meadow pipits including one doing its parachute flight. Now that I was more experienced in this matter it was easy to see and hear how different it was from a tree pipit’s. In fact the song was rather boring compared to the excitement of a tree pipit song! There were a few finches around (mostly linnets), a pair of dunnocks and a whitethroat. Overhead a red kite was being mobbed noisily by a pair of lapwings and a buzzard was soaring in the distance. A very enjoyable little walk with a great variety of birds. What’s more, once back on the road the traffic had cleared and I was able to head for home at a reasonable pace.

No new ticks today but at this time of year that’s only to be expected and I’ll come back another day to try for the willow tits again. I’ve got a trip to the downs coming up to look for stone curlews and quails in the next few weeks to look forward to and in the mean time, unless something twitchable turns up, I’ve got nightingale, redstart, firecrest and mandarin duck still to find from my hit list.

With the summer doldrums well and truly in place I was continuing to work through my summer "hit list" of birds to see. I therefore decided to go on an evening session to look for nightjar and woodcock back at Swinely Forest/Crowthorne Woods in Berkshire. I arranged to go there with a fellow birder whom I’d met several times on the Meadow and had got to know. He was also keen to see Dartford Warbler as he needed it for his UK list and it was on my summer hit list (I’d seen one as a boy) so I too was keen to see one. Neither of us had seen a nightjar since our childhood so we were both well overdue for another sighting.

My companion was due to pick me up at 5:30pm and as I waited for him I was hoping that he had air conditioning in his car as it was rather a hot afternoon (though this would make for ideal conditions for the evening). As he was an academic and therefore presumably (or so I thought) impoverished I had visions of his turning up in some beat up old car. I needed have worried as he arrived in a lovely big jaguar: academia clearly isn’t what it used to be in my day! In the luxury of his car the journey only took an hour (it had taken me an hour and a quarter when I had done it) and we soon arrived at the "kebab van entrance" with the van already set up and serving.

Ignoring the temptations of the van we set off into the forest and almost immediately turned off to look for firecrests in the area where they’d been seen a while ago. It was immediately evident that there was much more bird activity now than when I’d last been there and there was plenty to listen out for though the birds were still rather hard to see. After a lot of craning up at the tree tops and listening all we could find were coal tits and gold crests. We headed on over to Caesar’s Camp seeing and hearing plenty of warblers along the way.

I’d not actually been in the Camp last time and as this was supposedly a good spot for dartford warblers we decided to take a thorough look there. I’d been told where to look last time so we went straight there and started scanning through the small trees and heather. Quite quickly I heard what I was sure was a dartford calling and soon spotted a distant bird though my companion pointed out that it was a stonechat. He seems to have better eyes than I do though I was better on the calls so we worked together quite well as a team. We continued to scan and then both saw something of the right size and shape fly across briefly. Encouraged we started to move closer when suddenly I heard a male dartford singing from close by and the next moment he flew up giving a clear view before ducking back down into the undergrowth. A clear sighting for both of us and a great start to the evening.

With about an hour still to go till we could hope to see anything crepuscular we decided to head over to the Lower Star Post area to see if we could find any redstarts which were supposed to be there. We walked at a fast past down there, not seeing much on the way and scoured the key area but it was perhaps a bit late now because there was not much around. We did see several deer on the way though. We both agreed that Caesar’s Camp looked the best spot for the nightjars and decided to head back there to wait for the action to begin.

When we got there we were just doing a quick tour of the Camp and deciding where to have our sandwiches when we met up with Jerry O’Brian, who runs the Birds of Berkshire web-site. He said that he’d seen three nightjars there the night before so we decided to stick with him. He also told us that the birds often sit on dead branches in the surrounding trees when they first come out which I hadn’t know about. We therefore dutifully scanned the trees but to no avail. After a little while we heard a distant chur and I suddenly saw one fly up briefly not 20 yards from us before going back to ground though my companion hadn’t seen it. Shortly afterwards it did it again and this time we all saw it. As the evening progressed we got excellent views of a male and a female including a flight almost over our heads. We also saw a woodcock fly over a couple of times which was great to see as it was another of my summer hit list birds.

Well satisfied with our nightjar sightings we said good bye to Jerry and headed back to the kebab van entrance. On the way we managed to see two more pairs of nightjars, one in each of the clearings so we must have seen at least six in total – an excellent result.

A most successful trip with three target birds seen and the year list now up to 178. My summer hit-list is now down to the following birds: redstart, firecrest, nightingale, stone curlew, quail, mandarin duck and willow tit.

176:  dartford warbler
177: nightjar
178: woodcock.