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 Ground 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
Tree Pipit
Ring Ouzel
Crossbill
Brent Goose
White-fronted Goose
Bewick's Swan
Black 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!