I’d been vaguely thinking about another trip down to Slimbridge for a few days in order to pick up some year ticks. Currently as well as the usual geese there were two bonus ones present in the form of a brent goose and 6 tundra bean geese. With the arrival of a green-winged teal there (which I still need as a lifer) and with a great-grey shrike showing in Cirencester, all these birds were too good to pass up so I decided to make the trip down there.  My plan was to head to the Zeiss hide first where the green-winged teal was supposed to be and then over to the Holden tower for the various geese that were about. I would then make the return journey via Cirencester to see if I could find the great grey shrike. The journey down to Slimbridge was rather atmospheric, with a bit of a frost on the ground and quite foggy in places though with some nice sunshine. However it took a bit longer than it should have as I was stuck behind a slow lorry on a single carriage way road for a fair while so I arrived there at around 10am.

I arrived at the Zeiss hide to find only a couple of other birders, neither of whom had found the green-winged teal so I was going to have to work for this bird. The warden had informed me that there were about 1200 teal on the reserve so that was a good number to search through. I diligently worked my way through them all first right to left and then back left to right without finding it at all. I was, however, struck at how great a birding location it was though: there were teal, wigeon, shoveler, a few gadwall, some shelduck and a few tufted duck and mallards present on the duck front. There were numerous lapwings with some dunlin mixed in. In the background a few dozen white-fronted geese and some bewick’s swans could just be seen in the neighbouring field. Added to that, a bittern flew in from the nearby South Finger hide where it had been showing off and dropped into a reed bed before soon flying back again, giving me a good view of it in flight. A flock of curlew flew in and settled in front of the hide as well and I thought that I briefly heard a cetti’s warbler singing in the reed bed immediately in front of the hide. All in all a marvellous location even if it wasn’t yielding up any vagrant teal.

I next went over to the Holden hide to find a lot of birders and a warden present. Fortunately the warden was able to give a summary of what was present so it saved a bit of time on scanning. The party of 6 tundra bean geese were present on their own on the Dumbles slightly to the left of the hide. Immediately in front on the Dumbles were a large number of lapwings, dunlin and some bewick’s swans. To the right in the Tack Piece (which I also viewed from one of the other hides) were large numbers of geese including: the white-fronted, barnacle, grey-lag, canada and the single brent. There were also good numbers of redshank, curlew, dunlin, most of the different duck species and a few spotted redshank. I spent only a short period of time doing some digiscoping as the light wasn’t that good any more.

A Bewick’s Swan on the Tack Piece

A Sleeping Spotted Redshank on the Tack Piece

At the Robbie Garnett feeders, someone had just seen the water rail so I hung around for some 20 minutes or so to see if it would re-emerge but it didn’t. I then headed back to the Zeiss hide to have another try for the green-winged teal. There were lots of birders in the hide there and quite a chatty atmosphere. Apparently someone had come into the South Finger hide (where the bittern had been showing extremely well) and said that the teal had be "showing well" back at Zeiss, leading to a mass exodus. As we all scanned the flock we wondered what "showing well" meant in this context when there are over one thousand birds to look through. Despite our massed efforts no one could find it and on the Slimbridge web-site that evening it was reported as not having been seen all day.

I decided to head off towards Cirencester and the great grey shrike before it got too dark. Some half an hour or so later I pulled up in a layby off a busy dual carriage way where I could see a couple of birders staring into the neighbouring field. On asking I was informed that it had been seen some ten minutes ago. We all started scanning and walking along the layby till someone found it again. It was quite distant and rather dark by now but I had a go at digiscoping it, getting at least a record shot. I then headed back home, tired but most pleased with the day.

The Cirencester Great Grey Shrike taken in near darkness at IS0 1600 at about 75 yards.

Despite dipping out on the green-winged teal, a very successful trip to Slimbridge with a good number of year ticks. I now have the full compliment of geese (excluding rarities). It would be great to get some of them in Oxon as well for the county list but geese are not an Oxon birding strong point. Amazingly, with the national list I have already reached the 100 mark in just 21 days, whereas last year it wasn’t until mid March that I managed to reach this total. I think that this is largely coming from experience in knowing now where to go to get different ticks and also in having spent more time out and about birding so far this year though that tends to fluctuate accordingly to my work schedule.

2009 National Year List
092    shelduck             21/01/2009    Slimbridge
093    curlew               21/01/2009    Slimbridge
094    white-fronted goose  21/01/2009    Slimbridge
095    Bewick’s swan        21/01/2009    Slimbridge
096    bean goose (tundra)  21/01/2009    Slimbridge
097    brent goose          21/01/2009    Slimbridge
098    barnacle goose       21/01/2009    Slimbridge
099    spotted redshank     21/01/2009    Slimbridge
100    great grey shrike    21/01/2009    Cirencester

2009 Oxon Year List still stands at 88

After the excitement of the waxwings it was back to county year listing and with this in mind I’d drawn up a target list of winter species that I wanted to see within the county as a priority. One of these was short-eared owl, by no means an easy county bird but I was informed that if one goes to East Hendred Downs then it’s possible to get them there as the county boundary actually runs along the end of Bury Down in Berkshire which is a know hot spot for SEO’s. Indeed my fellow county year lister JC (who must be quite a few ticks ahead of me by now) saw a couple up there a week or so ago so a few days ago I went up there to see if I could pick them up.

It was my first time visiting East Hendred and I found it very windy and decidedly bleak up on the downs. I was greeted by the cheery sight of a pair of stonechats as soon as I arrived as well as a couple of red kites (my first of the year) flying over the nearby fields. With nothing else showing I decided to stray across the county border into Bury Down to see what I could see before returning to the Oxon side to see if I could find any SEO’s as it got later. There was precious little on the Berkshire side either apart from more stonechats, a single kestrel, the odd fly-over meadow pipit and a single yellowhammer. There were no owls to be seen on Bury Down that afternoon and none back on the Oxon side either. I thought back to last summer and how it had been alive with birds and bird song then, a remarkable contrast to now.  Still there was something reassuringly wintery about the landscape and it’s bleakness which I rather enjoyed.

Interestingly enough, that very afternoon, someone managed to see a short-eared owl in Burgess Field Nature Reserve, which is part of my local patch. They used to be spotted regularly there but had not been seen now for several years so it was encouraging to have a confirmed sighting so close to home and I hoped that it would mean that I wouldn’t need another trip up to the wilderness that was East Hendred, until the weather warmed up a little at least. The next day therefore I went out on to Port Meadow to check what was on the floods (a few redshank, ruff and dunlin) before heading over to Burgess Field. Whilst there I met up with a long-time birder who used to have Port Meadow as his local patch and visit it every day before he moved elsewhere (so you might say that he was my predecessor). We decided to look for the owl together as well as seeing if we could flush a jack snipe from the pools. Unfortunately it was rather dry and not very snipey so we had no luck with the latter objective though I did see a juvenile sparrowhawk whilst trying. At the end of the bog stomping session we met the lady who’d seen the owl the previous night. After a brief chat we headed off in opposite directions and almost immediately the short-eared owl flew up in front of us, turned round and headed rapidly off over the railway line that runs alongside the reserve. A most pleasing sight for ourselves and also a couple of other birders who’d come out to look for the bird and saw it at the same time as we did.

The next day was Saturday and as usual I had L, our two year old son, for the morning. I was going to drag him around Otmoor once more but a (the?) reader of this blog sent me an e-mail saying that there was a pink-footed goose by the Thames at Streatley in Berks. Consequently I thought that it would be more interesting to pop down to take a look at it rather than going to Otmoor so we headed off in that direction. We stopped briefly at the cress beds at Ewelme to see if we could see either the water rail or the over-wintering green sandpiper but all we saw was a grey wagtail. We went on to Streatley, parking by the church as I’d been instructed, and we walked along the Thames path north towards Cleeve Lock where the goose was supposed to be located along with some egyptian geese. Some 20 minutes or so later, with a somewhat muddy push chair, we arrived at the field north of the lock in which the goose was supposed to be located. I scanned the field and could see no geese and only a dog walker with his two dogs in the middle of the field. I did also notice someone with a camcorder in the field filming something across the river and a quick glance revealed some geese on the opposite bank so I made my way closer and discovered that the pink-footed goose was present on the other side of the river together with seven egyptian geese. Now it so happens that the county boundary runs along the river so by being on that side the birds happened to be in Oxon, which was most fortuitous for my county listing efforts. I took some digiscoping shots and fortunately the sun was shining and the birds were comparatively close, separated as they were by just the width of the river.

The pink-footed goose straying over into Oxon.

On the way back I called JC and told him about the bird. He quickly headed off in his car and in fact I met him back at the church as I was about to leave so he managed to get the bird also.

It was nice to see such a comparatively rare county bird and very lucky that it was on the right side of the border. The year list is ticking along nicely at present and I even managed finally to catch up with the Blenheim Mandarins. They were skulking at the back of their usual pond near Combe Gate at Blenheim and when I arrive they quickly moved under the over-hanging trees making them virtually impossible to see. I can now understand how I could easily have missed them in the past.

2009 National Year List
084    red kite            15/01/2009    East Hendred Downs, Oxford
085    yellowhammer        15/01/2009    Bury Downs, Berks
086    short-eared owl     16/01/2009    Burgess Field NR
087    grey wagtail        17/01/2009    Ewelme Cress Beds, Oxon
088    egyptian goose      17/01/2009    Goring, Oxon
089    pink-footed goose   17/01/2009    Goring, Oxon
090    siskin              19/01/2009    Oxford Canal, North Oxford
091    mandarin duck       20/01/2009    Blenheim, Combe Gate

The Oxon county list is three less than this (bittern, waxwing and yellowhammer).

My original plan for this year was not to spend so much time running around getting ticks for the year list but instead to go after birds that I still need for my life list. So far however, I seem very much focused on the year list which is proceeding much faster than last year, but also on my Oxon year list. A fellow Oxon birder and I seem to be "going for it" this year though I don’t have quite the dedication that he does and when offered the chance to look for a bittern that had been seen at Radley lake the day after the trip that I’m about to describe I whimped out and did some work instead. I think that he’s already several species ahead of me but we’re very much working together as a team so it’s great to have help in finding local stuff. Anyway, as I was saying my original plan was to concentrate on birds that I still need for the life list, especially stuff that I should really have and waxwings is very much one of those birds. I know that I didn’t see any as a boy and last year was a poor waxwing year so I didn’t have the chance. This year however has been a good one and I’ve keenly been watching on Bird Guides to see how close they are. Unfortunately they’ve mostly been annoyingly just too far for me to feel it’s worth making the effort (see I’m just not obssessed enough) at about 50 miles away but also in an awkward direction from Oxford with no direct fast road (e.g. Herts). Recently some were reported 38 miles away at Greenfield in Beds, still a rather indirect route from Oxford but more within my comfort range. Now it turns out that my VLW (very lovely wife) had been talking of visiting the Ikea at Milton Keynes and it had not escaped my attention that this was not too far from Greenfield so I suggested that we went over there one week day whilst our two daughters were at school: I would drop her off whilst nobly taking L our two year old son on a drive to Greenfield. So on Tuesday this is what I did.

The journey there was uneventful apart from getting rather lost on leaving Ikea and heading off south instead of north. However I soon corrected myself and after about half an hour found myself at the village of Greenfield pulling up at School Lane where the waxwings were supposed to be. Lo and behold they were indeed there in a tree opposite where I had parked but as I was getting my digiscoping gear set up they flew to a tree behind the house though still just in view and then further away out of sight. Whilst I’d now seen the birds I was most disappointed as I understood waxwings to be most obliging photographic subjects. I decided to go and scout around to see if I could find them elsewhere in the village but did not succeed. However as I returned, there they were on the television arial of the original house. I set up my gear again and this time they were happy to pose for a good ten minutes before flying again so I got plenty of pictures (though the light was not good) and some video footage as well.

Three of the five birds present

Then there were two…

…looking the other way.

 
The journey back was uneventful and my VLW had had a successful shop so an all-round excellent day.
I was so pleased finally to catch up with these charismatic birds. All I need now is to find some in Oxon for the county year list.

2009 National Year List
081    waxwing   (Lifer)   13/01/2009    Greenfield, Beds
082    goosander           14/01/2009    University Parks, Oxford
083    stonechat           14/01/2009    Burgess Field NR

The Oxon county List is two less (missing bittern and waxwing).

I got a call from a fellow Oxon birder who, like me, is keenly working on his Oxon year list. He suggested that we go looking for the hawfinches at Blenheim Palace at the weekend and needless to say I didn’t need much persuading.

We were due to rendezvous at 08:45 at the Bladon gate of the park and whilst waiting I saw a nice male goldcrest in a yew tree, a nice year tick. The ground was pleasantly frosty though the weather was much warmer than the recent long spell of arctic conditions that we’d been enduring. We walked over to the Palace Gardens to the "usual" viewing point and set ourselves up watching the tree tops. I was keen to get a photo so had my digiscoping gear all set up and ready. Whilst waiting we saw several stock doves and a green woodpecker both year ticks. After only about 30 minutes we both simultaneously picked up a single hawfinch which flew into the tree top we’d been watching. It stayed for a little over a minute or two, enough to get the scope on it and even to fire off a few digiscoping efforts though unfortunately the bird was facing away from us so I didn’t get its impressive bill in the shot.

A hawfinch in the Palace Gardens

Pleased with our success we next drove round to Combe Gate to see if we could find the Blenheim Mandarins. Regular readers of this blog (if there are any!) will know that I had a great deal of trouble seeing these birds towards the end of last year so I was keen to have another go. I was a bit concerned about whether the pond might be frozen over though parts of the main lake were now ice free. As we pulled up at the gate we met a fellow Oxon birder so we went round to the pond together. On the way we managed to find a nuthatch and a jay for the year lists.

The pond itself was completed frozen over and duck free so we decided to head back the other way to see if they were on the main lake. On the way we had a good look out for willow tits which this other chap reckoned could be had in the area though they are now a very scarce county bird. We walked slowly carefully inspecting all the small birds and managed to see a marsh tit (conveniently calling to identify itself), a few coal tits and a sparrowhawk which made a kill. There were also a couple of circling buzzards making their mewing calls.

We next decided to walk in a circuit around to the bridge and back again hoping for, amongst other things, some bramblings. We managed a couple more close marsh tits and by the monument I picked out a huge corvid which we all agreed was a raven, a county first for me. The lake itself held lots of gadwall and a few tufted ducks but the arm of the lake which often holds the mandarins when they are not on their pond, was frozen solid and there was nothing to be seen there. There were also no bramblings to be found anywhere. We headed back to the cars slowly, hearing another marsh tit calling as we did so.

There was one other trip to report on: down to Otmoor but still during the big freeze. Everything was covered in rime frost (frozen fog) and was very beautiful but the reserve was almost complete birdless, the highlight being a trio of redpolls seen at very close range from the car on the drive down Otmoor Lane. I did manage to see a greater spotted woodpecker on the feeders which was a year tick for me.

So a few more year list ticks, all also Oxon ticks:

2008 Year List (National)
069    bullfinch                     09/01/2009    Chalbury Rd, Oxford
070    pheasant                      09/01/2009    Oxford Canal
071    greater spotted woodpecker    10/01/2009    Otmoor
072    goldcrest                     11/01/2009    Blenheim
073    stock dove                    11/01/2009    Blenheim
074    green woodpecker              11/01/2009    Blenheim
075    hawfinch                      11/01/2009    Blenheim
076    nuthatch                      11/01/2009    Blenheim
077    jay                           11/01/2009    Blenheim
078    sparrow hawk                  11/01/2009    Blenheim
079    marsh tit                     11/01/2009    Blenheim
080    raven                         11/01/2009    Blenheim

My Oxon year list is identical to the national one except for not having bittern and so is currently standing at 79.

Now that I’ve had a year’s experience at year listing my intention is to make a real effort to see the birds that I ought to at the correct time of year. For example, in Oxon ring ouzels are usually only seen on the spring passage so it’s a question of making the effort to get to likely locations when they are likely to be seen. There are a number of winter birds that I want to see and bittern was one of them. Last year it wasn’t until mid December that I saw one and that was partly fortuitous so this year I decided to nip into Bucks where they have several over-wintering bitterns. The closest one to me was at the BBOWT reserve at Calvert so today I started work early so that I could take some time off in the afternoon for a bittern hunt.

I arrived at the hide at about 2:45pm to find four other birders there. One had been there since 10 in the morning and was staked out with a 600mm lens, looking to get a good bittern photo. He’d seen but not photographed a bittern earlier and had taken a nice one of a water rail which had been showing earlier. There were quite a few gulls around and I soon picked out a nice yellow legged which was close enough to the hide so that one could even see the leg colour in the water. I had a go at digiscoping it but the light was poor and I got only one half-decent shot. Someone else had found a caspian gull in the pre-roost flock earlier but in a brief scan I couldn’t find it myself.

The adult yellow-legged gull showing close to the hide

We settled down to wait and it got quite sociable in the hide with general chit-chat. As it was noticably milder today there were more small birds flying around which kept us occupied picking them out. At one stage a lovely mouse climbed up a rose hip stem about 2m in front of the hide and took a single hip from the top before scampering back down again. At about 3:30 the bittern suddenly flew out of the right-hand reed bed and across to the left-hand one. All in all a few seconds of viewing and not enough for any photographs but a clear view of the whole bird as opposed to the previous glimpses that I had had at Slimbridge. We carried on waiting at at about 4:30 with it now getting pretty dark, it flew up again and showed itself for a few seconds before climbing up the reed stems and settling down to roost.  Again a few seconds of viewing. After that it probably could have been picked out from the reeds in its roosting spot but for the fact that it was so dark one could hardly see a thing. Still it was very nice to see such a secretive bird again.

A few more ticks for the year list with bittern nicely ticked off very early in the year. I was also pleased to get coal tit in the garden so early on as they are not common visitors there.

2008 Year List (National)
059    greenfinch                05/01/2009    Garden
060    feral pigeon/rock dove    05/01/2009    Port Meadow
061    canada goose              06/01/2009    Garden
062    coal tit                  06/01/2009    Garden
063    rook                      06/01/2009    Yarnton
064    linnet                    06/01/2009    Oxford Airport
065    reed bunting              07/01/2009    Oxford Canal
066    collard dove              08/01/2009    Edgcott, Bucks
067    bittern                   08/01/2009    Calvert, Bucks
068    gadwall                   08/01/2009    Calvert, Bucks

So here we go with another year list. I feel that I have learnt a lot since my first one last year so it will be interesting to see how I get on this year. This year I am going to pay more attention to my Oxon county list (last year 163 ticks) as well as aiming to get some more easy lifers ticked off and my life list up to a more respectable level.

In the same way as I did last year, my year list started off by staring out the window at the garden. I have quite a few bird feeders up now and especially with the cold weather we have quite a variety of garden birds visiting. The highlight of the first day was a nice pair of lesser redpolls seen from the bedroom window in the garden. Last year I rather struggled with this bird so it was great to get it on the first day especially I’ve not seen one in the garden for quite a few years.

The next day I decided on a trip to Dix Pit with my two year old son, L, in tow. He likes going there because of all the trucks and lorries that he can look at while I look at the birds. I wanted to get the red head smew while it was still there so a chilly but sunny morning found me scanning the pit whilst L looked for trucks from the warmth of the car. I was not having much luck finding it when a birding colleague turned up: he’d used the excuse of doing some recycyling to pop down for a quick bit of birding. Fortunately he managed to find the smew when it emerged from behind the nearest island briefly. I endeavoured to get a digiscoped shot of it but it ducked back behind the island too quickly. Apart from quite a few water fowl ticks there was a smart yellow-legged gull in amongst the other gulls.

Later that day I nipped out to Port Meadow to see what sort of state it was in with the current cold weather and managed to see the four main over-wintering waders there. This was fortunate as a day or two later the floods were completely frozen over and birdless.

The following day was cold but beautifully sunny so I took L out to Farmoor to enjoy the sunshine as well as to pick up the over-wintering great northern divers and the first winter scaup pair which were still there. I failed once again to see the water pipit there – I’ve not seen it for quite a number of trips now though I’ve never made a special effort for it. There was an over-wintering common sandpiper also present which was nice to see so early in the year.

I also took the opportunity to try out some new digiscoping equipment: I am testing out the Swarovski DCA digiscoping adaptor as opposed to the DCB that I used for the latter half of last year. This one is a more conventional adaptor that attaches to the camera and which you fit over the scope eye-piece as opposed to the DCB which attaches the camera on a sort of arm which swings down over the scope. I had a go at one of the divers though they are extremely difficult to photograph when feeding (which this one was) as they spend so little time on the surface before diving again and often coming up a long distances from where they go down. Despite only getting off 3 shots (which is very few for digiscoping where you need safety in numbers to ensure that you get something in focus) I managed to get a shot of it I am really pleased with.

One of the over-wintering great northern divers

Anyway here’s the list so far (and these are all Oxon ticks so the Oxon list is identical).

2008 Year List
001    Carrion Crow          01/01/2009    Garden
002    Wood Pigeon           01/01/2009    Garden
003    Starling              01/01/2009    Garden
004    Goldfinch             01/01/2009    Garden
005    Blue Tit              01/01/2009    Garden
006    Dunnock               01/01/2009    Garden
007    Robin                 01/01/2009    Garden
008    Blackbird             01/01/2009    Garden
009    Jackdaw               01/01/2009    Garden
010    Great Tit             01/01/2009    Garden
011    Chaffinch             01/01/2009    Garden
012    Leser Redpoll         01/01/2009    Garden
013    Black-headed Gull     01/01/2009    Garden
014    House Sparrow         01/01/2009    Garden
015    Redwing               01/01/2009    St. Margeret’s Road, Oxford
016    Magpie                01/01/2009    Kingston Road, Oxford
017    Song Thrush           01/01/2009    Garden
018    Long-tailed Tit       01/01/2009    Garden
019    Mute Swan             01/01/2009    Wolvercote
020    Mallard               01/01/2009    Wolvercote
021    Shoveler              01/01/2009    Wolvercote
022    Pied Wagtail          01/01/2009    Kingston Road, Oxford
023    teal                  02/01/2009    Dix Pit
024    wigeon                02/01/2009    Dix Pit
025    coot                  02/01/2009    Dix Pit
026    moorhen               02/01/2009    Dix Pit
027    pintail               02/01/2009    Dix Pit
028    tufted duck           02/01/2009    Dix Pit
029    goldeneye             02/01/2009    Dix Pit
030    pochard               02/01/2009    Dix Pit
031    grey heron            02/01/2009    Dix Pit
032    cormorant             02/01/2009    Dix Pit
033    lsr black-backed gull 02/01/2009    Dix Pit
034    gtr black-backed gull 02/01/2009    Dix Pit
035    herring gull          02/01/2009    Dix Pit
036    common gull           02/01/2009    Dix Pit
037    yellow-legged gull    02/01/2009    Dix Pit
038    fieldfare             02/01/2009    Dix Pit
039    buzzard               02/01/2009    Dix Pit
040    kestrel               02/01/2009    Dix Pit
041    smew                  02/01/2009    Dix Pit
042    great crested grebe   02/01/2009    Dix Pit
043    mistle thrush         02/01/2009    Port Meadow
044    lapwing               02/01/2009    Port Meadow
045    golden plover         02/01/2009    Port Meadow
046    meadow pipit          02/01/2009    Port Meadow
047    black-tailed godwit   02/01/2009    Port Meadow
048    ruff                  02/01/2009    Port Meadow
049    redshank              02/01/2009    Port Meadow
050    dunlin                02/01/2009    Port Meadow
051    snipe                 02/01/2009    Port Meadow
052    wren                  02/01/2009    Port Meadow
053    grey-lag goose        02/01/2009    Port Meadow
054    blackcap              03/01/2009    Walton Manor, Oxford
055    common sandpiper      03/01/2009    Farmoor Reservoir
056    great northern diver  03/01/2009    Farmoor Reservoir
057    scaup                 03/01/2009    Farmoor Reservoir
058    little grebe          03/01/2009    Farmoor Reservoir

So that’s my first year list finished. I was hoping to be able to get merlin in at the end but some illness in the family meant that I was house-bound looking after our two year old son. Still I am more than pleased with my final tally of 222 which included an astonishing 54 lifers or technical lifers (where I can’t remember whether I had seen it previously as a boy).

It’ s been very nice to look back over the year and to be reminded of all the great birds that I’ve seen. It’s also been good to see how my photography has developed from a very dodgy first digiscoping effort of a garganey through to my present efforts. The photography side of things I’ve found surprisingly rewarding, not least because it makes the blog much more interesting to read.

So what have been the hightlights for me? For me the most rewarding thing of 2008 was probably finding the Temminck’s Stint on my local patch. As something which I found myself I feel much more satisfied with this than twitching some mega (e.g. stilt sandpiper). I find that twitching is not very rewarding: it’s just a matter of turning up at the right place and if you’re lucky the bird is there and you tick it off. Having a huge life list is just a matter of time and money and personally I don’t have the inclination to be driving all over the country like a lunatic to see some great rarity.  I should say that I am more disposed towards "local twitching", turning up to see a local bird rather than having to slog half way across the country. l am discovering that "local" for me means Oxon, Bucks or Berks. For similar reasons I also enjoyed the American Golden Plover which was once again on my local patch and which I had an accidental hand in finding. There were also three good holidays (from a birding point of view) to Crail, to Wales and to Cornwall which all gave me the opportunity to see interesting birds that I would not otherwise have seen and to boost my year list.

All in all a most satisfying return to birding and I look forward to an even more rewarding 2009. Below is the completed year list.

           Species         Date          Location
    001    Goldfinch       01/01/2008    Garden
    002    Chaffinch       01/01/2008    Garden
    003    Collard Dove    01/01/2008    Garden
    004    Wood Pidgeon    01/01/2008    Garden
    005    Blackbird       01/01/2008    Garden
    006    Great Tit       01/01/2008    Garden
    007    Robin           01/01/2008    Garden
    008    Blue Tit        01/01/2008    Garden
    009    Dunnock         01/01/2008    Garden
    010    Magpie          01/01/2008    Garden
    011    Jackdaw         01/01/2008    Garden
    012    Carrion Crow    01/01/2008    Garden
    013    Redwing         01/01/2008    Garden
    014    Blk-headed Gull 01/01/2008    Garden
    015    Lsr Blk-bkd Gull01/01/2008    Garden
    016    Starling        01/01/2008    Garden
    017    green finch     01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    018    moorhen         01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    019    mallard         01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    020    mute swan       01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    021    house sparrow   01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    022    widgeon         01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    023    lapwing         01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    024    golden plover   01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    025    shoveler        01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    026    pintail         01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    027    pied wagtail    01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    028    gadwall         01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    029    ruff            01/01/2008    Walk to port meadow
    030    blackcap        02/01/2008    Garden
    031    Kestrel         02/01/2008    Drive to Warwickshire
    032    Common Buzzard  02/01/2008    Drive to Warwickshire
    033    Coot            02/01/2008    Draycote Water
    034    Tufted Duck     02/01/2008    Draycote Water
    035    Little Grebe    02/01/2008    Draycote Water
    036    Goldeneye       02/01/2008    Draycote Water
    037    Meadow Pipit    02/01/2008    Draycote Water
    038    Pochard         02/01/2008    Draycote Water
    039    Teal            02/01/2008    Draycote Water
    040    Goosander       02/01/2008    Draycote Water
    041    Grt Crstd Grebe 02/01/2008    Draycote Water
    042    Canada Goose    02/01/2008    Draycote Water
L   043    Lesser Scaup    02/01/2008    Draycote Water
    044    Cormorant       02/01/2008    Draycote Water
    045    Pheasant        02/01/2008    Moran Bagot
    046    Song Thrush     04/01/2008    Garden
    047    Long-tailed Tit 04/01/2008    Garden
    048    Grey-lag Goose  05/01/2008    Port Meadow
    049    Feral Pidgeon   05/01/2008    Summertown
    050    Stock Dove      06/01/2008    Port Meadow
    051    Dunlin          06/01/2008    Port Meadow
    052    Herring Gull    06/01/2008    Port Meadow
    053    Gtr Blk-Bkd Gull06/01/2008    Port Meadow
L   054    Iceland Gull    06/01/2008    Port Meadow
    055    Gtr Sptd Wpker  07/01/2008    Canal at Frenchay Rd
    056    Mistle Thrush   07/01/2008    Port Meadow
    057    Sky lark        07/01/2008    Port Meadow
    058    Sparrowhawk     07/01/2008    Kingston Road
    059    Wren            08/01/2008    St. Margret’s Road
    060    Grey Heron      12/01/2008    Drive to Dix Pit
    061    Common Gull     12/01/2008    Dix Pit
    062    Red-cstd Pochard12/01/2008    Dix Pit
L   063    Caspian Gull    12/01/2008    Dix Pit
    064    Bewick’s Swan   12/01/2008    Chimney Meadows
    065    Fieldfare       13/01/2008    Hillesden
    066    Bullfinch       15/01/2008    Trap Grounds (next to P&J’s)
    067    Siskin          17/01/2008    Canal behind Southmoor Road
    068    Rng-nkd parakeet18/01/2008    Canal behind Hayfield Road
    069    Goldcrest       18/01/2008    St. Margret’s Road
    070    Rook            18/01/2008    Marston Ferry Road
    071    Red Kite        21/01/2008    Appleford
    072    Linnet          23/01/2008    Oxford Airport
    073    Grey Partridge  23/01/2008    In fields on the way to Steeple Aston
L   074    Rng-necked duck 26/01/2008    Foxcote Reservoir
    075    Kingfisher      26/01/2008    Foxcote Reservoir
    076    Green wdpcker   26/01/2008    Foscote, near Foxcote
L   077    Whooper Swan    26/01/2008    Hillesden
    078    Stonechat       01/02/2008    Burgess Field Nature Reserve
    079    Brambling       03/02/2008    Blenheim Park
    080    Reed Bunting    10/02/2008    Otmoor
    081    Snipe           10/02/2008    Otmoor
    082    Corn Bunting    10/02/2008    Ridgeway: Berkshire downs
    083    Short-eared Owl 10/02/2008    Ridgeway: Berkshire downs
    084    Yellowhammer    10/02/2008    Ridgeway: Berkshire downs
    085    Tree sparrow    11/02/2008    Tadpole Bridge
    086    Redshank        16/02/2008    Port Meadow
    087    Ringed Plover   18/02/2008    Wide Water Lagoon, W. Sussex
    088    Black Redstart  18/02/2008    Shoreham Old Fort
    089    Turnstone       18/02/2008    Shoreham Old Fort
    090    Grey Plover     18/02/2008    Shoreham Estuary, W. Sussex
    091    Little Egret    18/02/2008    Piddinghoe, E. Sussex
L   092    Blk-neckd Grebe 21/02/2008    Staines Reservoir
    093    Shelduck        26/02/2008    Port Meadow
E   094    Ruddy Shelduck  02/03/2008    Port Meadow
L   095    Smew            05/03/2008    Cotswold Water Park
L   096    Scaup           05/03/2008    Cotswold Water Park
LR  097    Great Bustard   05/03/2008    Foss Cross, Wiltshire
    098    Barn Owl        10/03/2008    Burgess Nature Reserve
    099    Chiffchaff      13/03/2008    Trap Grounds
    100    Little Stint    13/03/2008    Port Meadow
    101    Oystercatcher   15/03/2008    Port Meadow
    102    Sand Martin     16/03/2008    Port Meadow
    103    Curlew          16/03/2008    Port Meadow
    104    Barnacle Goose  17/03/2008    Port Meadow
    105    Nuthatch        19/03/2008    Blenheim Park
    106    Treecreeper     19/03/2008    Blenheim Park
    107    Grey wagtail    19/03/2008    Wilstone Reservoir
    108    Med Gull        19/03/2008    Wilstone Reservoir
    109    Jay             23/03/2008    Knaphill
    110    Water pipit     24/03/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
    111    Garganey        24/03/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
    112    Willow Warbler  30/03/2008    Port Meadow
L   113    Hawfinch        02/04/2008    Blenheim Park
    114    Gt Grey Shrike  02/04/2008    Half Moon Plantation, Gloc
    115    Raven           02/04/2008    Half Moon Plantation, Gloc
    116    Swallow         02/04/2008    Near Moran Bagot
    117    Marsh Tit       02/04/2008    Moran Bagot (Sherwoods)
    118    Ltl Rngd Plover 04/04/2008    Port Meadow
    119    Blk-taild Godwit05/04/2008    Port Meadow
    120    Hen Harrier     05/04/2008    Otmoor
    121    Coal Tit        10/04/2008    Bassenthwaite, Dodds wood
L   122    Osprey          10/04/2008    Bassenthwaite, Dodds wood
    123    Eider           11/04/2008    Crail Harbour, Fife
    124    Fulmar          11/04/2008    Crail Harbour, Fife
    125    Rock Pipit      11/04/2008    Crail Harbour, Fife
L   126    Common Scoter   12/04/2008    Crail, Fife
    127    Gannet          12/04/2008    Crail, Fife
L   128    red-thrtd diver 12/04/2008    Crail, Fife
    129    shag            12/04/2008    Crail, Fife
    130    purple sandppr  12/04/2008    Crail, Fife
L   131    long-taild duck 12/04/2008    St. Andrew’s Bay, Fife
    132    razorbill       13/04/2008    Crail, Fife
    133    kittiwake       14/04/2008    Fife Ness, Fife
L   134    velvet scoter   15/04/2008    Fife Ness, Fife
    135    Peregrine Falcon15/04/2008    Guardbridge estuary, Fife
    136    wheatear        15/04/2008    Guardbridge estuary, Fife
    137    red-brstd mrgnsr15/04/2008    Guardbridge estuary, Fife
    138    guillemot       17/04/2008    Fife Ness, Fife
    139    Egyptian Goose  21/01/2008    Appleford
    140    yellow wagtail  19/04/2008    Port Meadow
    141    house martin    20/04/2008    Port Meadow
    142    hobby           20/04/2008    A44 between ring road and A34 junction
    143    sedge warbler   21/04/2008    Abingdon sewage works lakes
L   144    cetti’s warbler 21/04/2008    Abingdon sewage works lakes
    145    grsshpr warbler 22/04/2008    Burgess Nature Reserve
    146    whitethroat     22/04/2008    Burgess Nature Reserve
    147    arctic tern     22/04/2008    Port Meadow
    148    swift           25/04/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
    149    common tern     25/04/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
    150    common sandpiper25/04/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
L   151    reed warbler    26/04/2008    Rainham Marshes RSPB reserve
L   152    avocet          26/04/2008    Rainham Marshes RSPB reserve
    153    little gull     29/04/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
    154    black tern      30/04/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
L   155    whimbrel        01/05/2008    Port Meadow
    156    garden warbler  02/05/2008    Burgess Nature Reserve
L   157    dotterel        02/05/2008    Bury Down, Berks
    158    greenshank      03/05/2008    Port Meadow
    159    red-lgd prtrdge 03/05/2008    Otmoor
    160    cuckoo          03/05/2008    Otmoor
    161    turtle dove     08/05/2008    Otmoor
    162    lsr whitethroat 08/05/2008    Otmoor
L   163    marsh harrier   08/05/2008    Otmoor
L   164    wood sandpiper  13/05/2008    Port Meadow
L   165    red-footd falcon14/05/2008    Cornation Pit, Stewartby, Beds
L   166    Temminck’s Stint15/05/2008    Port Meadow
    167    sanderling      16/05/2008    Port Meadow
L   168    crossbill       19/05/2008    Crowthorne Wood
L   169    wood lark       19/05/2008    Crowthorne Wood
    170    wood warbler    19/05/2008    Crowthorne Wood
L   171    grt white egret 21/05/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
    172    tree pipit      29/05/2008    Wyre Forest
    173    sptd flycatcher 30/05/2008    Wyre Forest
L   174    pied flycatcher 30/05/2008    Wyre Forest
    175    dipper          30/05/2008    Wyre Forest
    176    dartfd warbler  08/06/2008    Caesar’s Camp, Swinely Forest
    177    nightjar        08/06/2008    Caesar’s Camp, Swinely Forest
    178    woodcock        08/06/2008    Caesar’s Camp, Swinely Forest
L   179    ruddy duck      21/06/2008    Otmoor
L   180    stone curlew    25/06/2008    Not-disclosed
    181    little owl      25/06/2008    Not-disclosed
L   182    quail           02/07/2008    Not-disclosed
L   183    long-eared owl  02/07/2008    Not-disclosed
    184    green sandpiper 03/07/2008    Port Meadow
    185    mandarin duck   08/07/2008    Shardeloe’s Lake, Bucks
L   186    hoodd merganser 16/07/2008    Radipole Lake, Dorset
L   187    yell-legd gull  19/07/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
    188    manx shearwater 03/08/2008    Penbryn beach
    189    chough          04/08/2008    Cardigan Island
    190    tawny owl       05/08/2008    Tan y Llan, Penbryn
L   191    great skua      07/08/2008    Penbryn beach
LE  192    snow goose      07/08/2008    Penbryn beach (NB probably an escapee)
    193    sandwich tern   08/08/2008    Ynylas NNR
    194    common redstart 16/08/2008    Calvert, Bucks
L   195    red-nkd phal    21/08/2008    Saul Warth, Glouc.
    196    spotd redshank  21/08/2008    Saul Warth, Glouc.
L   197    stilt sandpiper 21/08/2008    Coome Hill Meadows, Glouc.
    198    whinchat        30/08/2008    Burgess Nature Reserve
    199    grey phalarope  05/09/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
    200    knot            09/09/2008    Port Meadow
L   201    Ferrug Duck     23/09/2008    Calvert, Bucks
    202    Water rail      27/09/2008    Otmoor
    203    Bar-tld godwit  06/10/2008    Christchurch Harbour
L   204    Am Goldn Plover 15/10/2008    Port Meadow
L   205    Bearded Tit     21/10/2008    Farlington Marshes
L   206    Ring-billd Gull 21/10/2008    Gosport
L   207    Cattle Egret    24/10/2008    Somerset
L   208    Bluethroat      26/10/2008    Land’s End
L   209    Firecrest       26/10/2008    Trevilley Farm, Sennen
L   210    Y-browd warbler 27/10/2008    Penberth, Cornwall
    211    Brent Goose     27/10/2008    Marazion Beach, Cornwall
L   212    Pink-ftd Goose  31/10/2008    Hayle Estuary, Cornwall
L   213    GN diver        05/11/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
    214    jack snipe      07/11/2008    Calvert, Bucks
L   215    red-nkd grebe   07/11/2008    Draycote Water
L   216    bean goose      14/11/2008    Hillesden
L   217    willow tit      21/11/2008    Combe Wood
L   218    American Wigeon 29/11/2008    Lower Farm GP, Berks
L   219    Slavonian Grebe 06/12/2008    Brogborough Lake, Beds
    220    Lesser Redpoll  14/12/2008    Farmoor Reservoir
    221    Wht-frtd goose  18/12/2008    Slimbridge
L   222    bittern         18/12/2008    Slimbridge

Key:
L = Lifer or tecnical lifer
E = prob. escapee
R = release scheme bird