Slow birding

A lot of frosty, misty mornings on patch recently

I said before that I would only be blogging if there were birds to write about and sadly for the last month there has been precious little to report! After the initial excitement of a new year dies down I find that the latter half of January into February is some of the toughest birding in Oxfordshire (both mentally and physically) - everything is static, especially if there are no cold snaps and easterlies, and spring still seems so far away.

I've visited Port Meadow 27 times since my last blog post and the sum total of interesting birds to report have been a single flyover Black-tailed Godwit on 12th February and my second patch record of Marsh Harrier on 19th February - this time an adult female that spent a few minutes circling before heading southeast over the city.

Small signs of spring movement began on 3rd February with nine Shelduck present one morning - a smattering of individuals have been around since then. The first Oystercatcher arrived on 13th February, followed by two the next day.

Oystercatcher over the floods

Other than that, it's been the usual stuff - Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls in the roost (mostly individuals that I've seen previously), with an adult Mediterranean Gull occasionally dropping in; Great White Egrets on the flood; and regular attacks by Peregrines, although no good photographic opportunities. There have been plenty of Chiffchaffs hanging around the ditch although the ringed Siberian Chiffchaff hasn't been seen recently. I've had several failed attempts to listen out for Water Rail and Nuthatch so my patch listing ambitions have stalled for the meantime.

3cy Caspian Gull - not the regular bird, this one has only been seen two or three times

Some of the masses of ducks on the flood - still no Green-winged Teal!

My search for Russian Common Gull continues - this large, dark-mantled bird with a white head and saturated yellow bare parts stood out amongst a group of 30 Common Gulls on 19th February

The primary pattern shows that this bird isn't an identifiable heinei although there are a few features which make me think that it's probably from further east than most of the canus that we're getting. There is a thick P5 band (actually down to P4 on the right wing) and a reduced white tongue-tip to P7 (although ideally would like this to be even thinner for heinei). You'd also want a smaller P9 mirror and more black on P8/9 (lacking those grey tongues at the base).

Due to everything being a bit same-y on Port Meadow I've been going to Otmoor RSPB more frequently, especially as I now live much closer to the reserve. I've always considered it worse for birding than my favoured sites, mostly because the ducks and waders are often spread across inaccessible/hard to view areas away from the footpaths. There also seems to be much less visible migration, perhaps due to its geographical position. Despite this, it is a very nice place to walk around and has had a few good birds recently, most notably a Green-winged Teal found by Jeremy and Terry on 24th January. I managed to connect with it the following morning after a maddening dip immediately following the news being put out - a county tick for me.

Green-winged Teal with Eurasian Teal

So far I've not had such luck, but I did find a Russian White-fronted Goose on 12th February, part of a mini-influx into the county this winter, and also connected with the overwintering ringtail Hen Harrier on the same day.

Distant Russian White-fronted Goose with Canada Geese

Peregrines have been showing well on the reserve, and I was pleased to see three together on 16th February - a male and two females. I managed to get some photos of the two females scrapping, which show that the juvenile bird is wearing an orange Darvic ring. I think it's quite likely that this is the same ringed bird that took the Black-tailed Godwit on Port Meadow in December (detailed here) - certainly looks very similar in terms of the feather patterns and state of wear. Peregrine hunting territories are quite large and I imagine that individuals can zip between the Port Meadow and Otmoor floods relatively quickly (a distance of around 8km).

I've also been making a bit of an effort to do some county year-listing - it's been nice to get out and about in Oxfordshire a bit more and see some birds that I haven't caught up with in a while. The competition now seems semi-official with the leaderboard totals posted in this month's roundup on the main Oxon birding blog! More on this in a future blog post.

New Year targets

A real highlight from the last week - a weasel showing brilliantly in the ditch bordering the allotments on Port Meadow

I've decided to eschew the traditional end of year on patch post, largely because I have already covered so much in previous blog posts and also due to Adam providing an excellent summary here. It seems pointless to repeat myself so I'm going to focus on targets for this year, with reflections on how I might optimise my time on patch. Since the New Year there hasn't been a great deal to report on the meadow so I'll intersperse a few recent images throughout this blog post as a sort of round-up, especially as it'll just be a wall of text otherwise!

This adult Caspian Gull graced the roost whilst we were doing the BTO Winter Gull Survey on 18th January

2024 was a good year for me on Port Meadow, finding Baltic Gull (BBRC rarity), and a few county level rarities: Grey-headed Wagtail, Yellow-browed Warbler, Pink-footed Goose, Spoonbill and Glossy Ibis. In addition, the following finds were good from a patch perspective: Grey Plover, Osprey, Merlin, Yellowhammer, Hawfinch, Kittiwake, Little Gull, Rock/Water Pipit and Siberian Chiffchaff. Other Oxfordshire notables that I found included Tree Pipit (Otmoor), Black Tern (Farmoor) and Siberian Chiffchaff (Abingdon STW).

One of the best birds of 2024 - my second patch find of Grey-headed Wagtail, this time a female - photo courtesy of Steve Sansom

Going into 2025, my main goal is to add to my Port Meadow list, with a secondary focus on county birding. Aside from just being out on patch every day, I've been trying to come up with specific strategies to maximise my chances of connecting with the last few remaining bits of "low-hanging fruit" that I might reasonably expect to encounter on the patch. These strategies need to complement, rather than compromise, my birding approach as a whole. For instance, it's all very well trying to walk a load of ditches and fields attempting to add Water Rail or Partridges to the patch list, but focusing on this would clearly reduce my chances of finding proper rarities, e.g. as flyovers or in the gull roost. Despite the impression to the contrary, I actually don't have unlimited time to spend on patch so my time investment needs to be well balanced.

In the latter half of 2024, one change to my birding mentality has been to always carry a camera with me, which has undoubtedly helped with confirming a couple of records that I wouldn't have been confident enough to add to the patch list without sufficient documentation. I'd like to expand on this idea by getting into the habit of carrying a portable sound recorder whilst I'm out in the field so that I don't miss out on identifying any flight calls that I would have otherwise let go. I already have a Zoom H4n that I purchased a few years ago to try my hand at nocmig, although never got round to using it much. I might also look into getting a better microphone (rather than just using the in-built ones) and will aim to test the setup prior to spring migration starting.

During the cold snap last week the floods completely froze over, allowing good views of the few hardy birds to remain out on the ice - this is the regular 3cy Caspian Gull

The ringed Siberian Chiffchaff was finding plenty to eat in the frozen debris

To help with structuring my birding this year, I've drawn up a target list of species that I might reasonably expect to encounter on patch, which can be found at the bottom of this blog post. Of the species in this list, several have occurred whilst I've been birding the meadow. Nuthatch was reliable for a few years around Medley Farm, whilst Brent Goose and Rock Pipit were easily twitchable, although for some reason I didn't go for them at the time - I've been through various ups and downs in terms of my keenness for patch birding. Ring Ouzel and Black Tern were twitchable, but unfortunately occurred whilst I was away from Oxford due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Red-Legged Partridge, Grey Partridge, Short-eared Owl, Quail, Nightingale and Tree Pipit have also been seen by single observers.

Recording Greater White-fronted Goose is a real problem on the meadow due to the presence of a feral flock of Gambel's White-fronted Geese, which are thought to derive from a collection near Blenheim and used to be seen quite regularly on the meadow in the company of a few Bar-headed Geese. Genuine albifrons birds have undoubtedly occurred whilst I've been here, but the identification can be quite difficult at range and in the gloom of the roost, and I've not seen any where I've been able to rule out the Blenheim birds with certainty.

These three Russian White-fronted Geese have been hanging out at Standlake recently - with birds also on Otmoor, perhaps we'll get lucky on patch this winter

Looking through my target list, it's clear that one thing I can do to increase the chance of detecting some of these species is to do a bit of "live nocmig" at peak times of year. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get Common Scoter by keeping an eye on national reports of this species and making sure that I'm out for a couple of hours at night when there's heavy overland movement - e.g. in March/April. Indeed, Tom Bedford has managed this at the Lye Valley in Oxford and I've even heard some from my parents' garden in London. I'm particularly keen for this idea as it doesn't interfere with my "normal" birding, obviously being at night. Tree Pipit should be doable just by being out in the early mornings in August, whilst Nuthatch and Firecrest are probably resident in the woods in the northwest corner of the patch at Godstow Lock. The rest is probably down to chance!

Since I've started writing this blog post, I'm pleased to report that one of my main targets for 2025 has already fallen. On 17th January I arrived on patch a little later in the morning than usual and the floods were very quiet - apart from two new-in Shelduck there were little signs of movement. At 09:35 I spotted a raptor flying west very high up, and although I could see no details of the plumage and was struggling to even assess its shape through bins I could tell from the way that the speck was flying that it was a harrier, probably a Marsh Harrier. I rattled off a series of shots which confirm that it's a juvenile/female type Marsh Harrier - maybe the same bird that's been seen on a semi-regular basis at Cassington. Given that so many Marsh Harriers are seen in close proximity to Oxford it's somewhat surprising that they are so infrequent on the meadow, with only two other records in the last few years. I guess that they will only be picked up as they commute between other favoured sites, so I'm glad that this rather obvious omission has finally made it onto my patch list.

Uncropped image of the Marsh Harrier (600mm equivalent - i.e. 12x zoom) to illustrate the distance

Crop of the above

Last year, I was hoping to be able to get to 160 on patch, which seems like a good effort compared to Adam, who's been birding here twice as long as I have and is I believe in the 180s. However, this milestone has now been achieved with Marsh Harrier, and I'm hesitant to set a new target for fear of jinxing it. If all the stars align, perhaps 170 is possible?

My self-defined patch limits, slightly different to Adam's, which include the Trap Grounds and Wolvercote Lakes. For me, I think the Port Meadow patch should just be the floodplain (including birds seen from the Thames Path) and Burgess Field

2025 targets

Probable residents/winter visitors, that need digging out

Red-legged Partridge
Grey Partridge (?)
Nuthatch
Firecrest
Water Rail

Scarce(ish) migrants, that increased time on patch will hopefully yield

Marsh Harrier - now SEEN on 17/01/2025
Short-eared Owl

Nightingale

Pied Flycatcher
Tree Pipit
Ring Ouzel
Crossbill
Brent Goose
White-fronted Goose
Bewick's Swan
Black Tern

Little Tern

Rock Pipit
Marsh Tit
Common Scoter
Little Stint
Spotted Redshank
Turnstone
Curlew Sandpiper
Honey Buzzard

Rarer stuff to keep an eye out for, that has a reasonable chance of occurring

Bonaparte's Gull - surely my most overdue find

Glaucous Gull - also overdue, though somehow seems less likely than Bonaparte's these days

Green-winged Teal
Woodlark
Shag

Red-breasted Merganser
Quail - nocmig?
Flyover skuas/divers of any kind - any inland patcher's dream!

Pre-Christmas Oxford birding

BTO Darvic-ringed juvenile Peregrine

Another fairly interesting week on patch, and whilst I haven't seen anything particularly exciting in terms of rarity value there have been a few moments which were really worth spending all those hours in the field for! I managed to see last week's Little Gull a couple more times although views have been quite brief - I'm glad that a few more people managed to catch up with it but also quite pleased to not have thousands more photos to sort through!

There have been a steady stream of Caspian Gulls hanging around during the day and in the roost - I think I am now up to eight or nine birds on the meadow for this autumn. 15th December was particularly memorable with five birds present, including the splendid adult male pictured below, which arrived mid morning with a small group of large gulls. An adult Mediterranean Gull also roosted that evening, which was the first that I'd seen for a few weeks.

Adult Caspian Gull

2cy Caspian Gull

Adult Mediterranean Gull

With the amount of flooding recently there has been a lot of wildfowl movement but despite going through all the ducks every day I've failed to turn up anything interesting other than a few Shelduck. When the floods are this large, we occasionally get diving ducks like Tufted Duck, Pochard and even Goldeneye and Smew on the meadow - in fact I had a large flock of Tufted Ducks go straight over one evening which really indicates the level of wildfowl movement around the county at the moment. I did manage to jam in on a female Ring-necked Duck which was found by Stuart Thomson at Dix Pit whilst I happened to be there - one of those on/over the meadow would be amazing, and I did think to check all the ducks in the photo below quite carefully!

Tufted Ducks - this flock of 24 going north was the largest I've seen on patch

The ringed Siberian Chiffchaff has been continuing to show well both in the ditch bordering the floods and in the bushes at the south end of Burgess Field. On 16th December I found a second individual which is a bit more brown and "dusky" than the other one, but seems to have the green and beige tones in the right places with an absence of yellows throughout the plumage.

Siberian Chiffchaff PHX356 in the ditch

The second Siberian Chiffchaff

That transition from beige/brown mantle into the greenish fringe to the edge of the wing and tail feathers is very typical of tristis

As part of our winter Chiffchaff project we carried out a ringing session on 20th December to try and ascertain the number of individuals present in the area. Prior to this I had estimated that there were around ten colybitta with the two tristis - so it was quite a surprise to catch 18 colybitta plus a retrap from last winter. There are still loads of unringed birds around so I think there are probably 30-50 wintering just in this small area of bushes, which is pretty extraordinary for a site that isn't a sewage works. I'd like to try and find out if there is a lot of turnover of birds throughout the winter or whether it will simply be a case of the proportion of ringed birds increasing with the number of ringing sessions - I guess we would need to catch enough to have some sort of mark/recapture population estimate in place for this to work.

colybitta Chiffchaff in the hand

Based on this success I had a quick trip off-patch to check out the Chiffchaff situation at Abingdon Sewage Works and had another Siberian Chiffchaff and two Blackcaps amongst the hordes of Chiffchaffs and tits. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's something rarer from the east (or west, given the Kent Yellow Warbler...) wintering there this year, so I'll make sure to check it after the cold snaps that tend to bring more birds in.

tristis Chiffchaff at Abingdon STW - a classic site for them

On 22nd December I was walking back towards the southern entrance of Port Meadow when I noticed a commotion on the floods. All the ducks suddenly rushed together as a juvenile Peregrine began stooping over them, and I hurried towards the edge of the flood to get in position for photography. I initially wasn't sure what the bird was going for, thinking that it was maybe trying to harass the ducks - but then noticed that there was something floundering in the water in front of the flock. Viewing through the camera's electronic viewfinder was difficult and I couldn't quite work out what it was. I actually thought it was a Lapwing, as I could occasionally see the black and white tail poking out of the water, and only realised that it was a Black-tailed Godwit when I saw it flap its wings. I hadn't seen this bird on the floods when I arrived and its odd position in the water makes me suspect that it was flying over and then been knocked/forced down onto the flood by the Peregrine.

The Godwit was swimming frantically and kept diving under the water to escape the Peregrine - really odd behaviour to observe in a wader.

On its next pass the Peregrine was successful in capturing the Godwit, initially lifting it out of the water whilst the bird was struggling before biting down on the back of its head and dispatching it, presumably by breaking its neck. It then carried its kill out west over the sailing club towards Binsey. I have included as many photos as possible from this crucial moment and I think they illustrate the sequence of events quite well. All over in just a couple of minutes.

A sad end for the Godwit but a real privilege to watch - I hope the Peregrines continue to perform like this over the winter! Unfortunately, the Darvic ring on the Peregrine's left leg isn't legible in any of the images, but it is a BTO scheme so I wonder if it's a locally-hatched bird.

Continuing with the raptor theme, the next morning I had an adult female Merlin zip across the floods, flying east into Burgess Field. One of those moments where you subliminally know what the bird is almost as soon as setting your eyes on it - I didn't even bother with bins, just reached for the camera and even then only managed to get photos once it was already past me. Merlin is recorded very infrequently on Port Meadow (and within the city in general), with the last being in January 2019, hence this is a very welcome patch tick (number 159). I have also seen one over the Wytham Field Station, where the lab/office is located - it was trying to take a Skylark in song-flight. I believe this dubiously made it on to the Port Meadow year list that year, and indeed was on my patch list for a while before I decided to be a bit more strict with the boundaries. More on this in a future post.

Adult female Merlin

Now that I'm away from Oxford until the New Year it looks like that's patch birding for 2024 wrapped up - the next blog post will therefore be a review of the year and targets for 2025.