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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 3cy Caspian Gull - not the regular bird, this one has only been seen two or three times |
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| Some of the masses of ducks on the flood - still no Green-winged Teal! |
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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 |
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
