End of Year , Miss and Hit, 28th-31st December 2021

Reports of a Hawfinch visiting a pond at an Oxfordshire BBOWT reserve to drink had me getting overexcited that I'd finally land a decent shot of the species. After almost eight hours of effort over the mornings of the 28th and 29th December, I'm still waiting for that super photo. To cut a long boring story short, there was no visits from a Hawfinch while we sat there in hope and expectation. At least some other woodland birds did pay the occasional visit.

Marsh Tit

Robin

We paid our last visit of the year to Otmoor on the 30th. Another grey and dreary although unseasonably warm day, greeted us as we emerged from the car in an almost deserted carpark which would be a far cry from the chaotic scenes that occurred in the late afternoon with people poring in to see the Starling murmuration spectacle. As normal we walked to the first screen and sat there awhile staring out into the bleakness of the day. Our previous visit had been before Christmas on a similar but even foggier morning when we'd seen little of note and that feat was to be repeated with nothing more exciting than distant Marsh Harriers to keep us occupied. I tried hard to turn one of the twenty Common Snipe that were feeding in the reed stubble into a Jack Snipe but every bird I checked five times over resolutely refused to metamorphose. The only indication of colour was provided a few Lapwing that had deserted the main swirling flocks high above the moor. We decided our time would be better spent in the Wetlands Watch hide where supplementary food is provided for Finches, Buntings and anything else that might be feeling peckish. On our way a Kestrel alighted in the Oak tree by the path and I awoke my camera out of its dormant state for the first time.

Kestrel

We sat at the windows overlooking the feeding area, no birds on offer because a couple had walked along the track just moments before we had arrived but we knew it wouldn't be long before the birds regained their confidence and sought out the scattered seeds once more. In the absence of the feeding flock I scanned across The Closes hoping to find the White-fronted Goose that was purported to be around. As I did so a mass of Golden Plover and Lapwing hitherto unseen, exploded into the air. I frantically searched for the cause of the consternation but couldn't see anything that might be the stimulus. Whilst the Lapwing and Golden Plover remained airborne, I had a quick futile search of the sky for the Dotterel, fat chance really of me finding it amongst the thousands of mobile Plovers, that has been noted in the county through a lot of December. Then I happened upon the formidable figure of a Peregrine Falcon stood on the ground about fifty metres away. Now we realised what had created the panic amongst the waders. The Peregrine, a large adult female, was busy plucking the feathers off of an unfortunate bird that it had captured.

Peregrine

The Peregrine was hassled by a couple of aptly named Carrion Crows that were interested in relieving it of its prey but the Falcon was naturally unwilling to give its hard earned bounty up so, grasping the snared bird in its talons, it flew up and moved away to another spot in the field. At first I thought the prey was a Moorhen but having reviewed the images it appears to be a Golden Plover. The Peregrines of Otmoor have rich pickings on the moor with plenty more Plovers, as well as Ducks and other species, to choose from.

When the Peregrine had retreated to another spot even further out in the field, it was still attracting unwanted attention from the pair of Crows, the Reed Buntings were the first to return to the hedge that overlooks the path and the seed handout. In time they were joined by other species, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Yellowhammers, Linnets and Blue Tits were all represented. A Brambling had been seen a few days before but had probably moved on elsewhere already, it really needs much colder weather to attract the scarcer birds to the food. The birds, especially when they wait on the fringes before going to ground, give excellent photographic opportunities even on dull weather days.

Reed Bunting

Blue Tit

Goldfinch

Yellowhammer

A report emerged later that afternoon of a Velvet Scoter that had been seen at Henley Road Gravel Pits in the south of the county. Velvet Scoter, primarily sea ducks, are very rare in Oxon and would be a county tick so we crossed fingers and hoped it would stay overnight and into the morning. The last county Velvet Scoter was a short staying bird in December 2013 when I was stuck at work and thus didn't get a chance at adding it to my list. Before that the previous record was way back in the eighties. So after doing the weekly shop we headed straight down to the outskirts of Reading hoping that the Scoter was still there. Halfway there a message from Badger, our county aficionado, informed us that the Velvet Scoter had indeed settled in for the night and was still in the same place. We arrived half an hour later, parked quickly, in a ruddy great puddle as my wet feet testified a few seconds later, put the wellies on which were only actually needed for the part between the car door and the boot which was precisely where I didn't have them, and squelched along to join a few other Oxon birders who had beaten us to it. I spotted Mark, The Early Birder (of course), and after exchanging pleasantries and without further ado, asked where the bird was since for once I couldn't be bothered to search for it myself, the immediate tick was more important because I didn't want to miss it. I was directed towards one of the gigantic triangular floating buoys on the lake but I couldn't find the bird, so I asked again while explaining where I was looking which was at the buoy on the right about halfway down the lake, probably around two hundred metres away. "Not that one but the one at the far end of the lake" was Mark's reply. I could barely see the furthest buoys, they were just about on the edge of Reading station concourse about a mile away! This job required the scope which thankfully I had brought with me. It took me few more seconds but the scope allowed me to get a decent view of my first county Velvet Scoter, a female type, which became my 236th bird on that county list and the second addition during the calendar year, both in the last month or so after the Little Auk at Farmoor.

Velvet Scoter

We weren't really interested in doing much birding, tomorrow would be a New Year and a new year list, so after getting Mrs Caley a view through the scope of the bird, not an easy task because at her height we had to look through a wooden fence, we stood idly around chatting away about whatever subject arose. We had seen three smart drake Velvet Scoters off the coast of Norfolk a few months previously so the female bird here wasn't a year tick which meant that we'd end up on 261 for 2020, relatively pleasing after the year we'd had. While we nattered, the occasional look at the lake revealed that the Velvet Scoter had slowly been approaching until it had actually reached the buoy that I'd been looking at in the first place  so was now close enough for a much better record shot. As I pointed the camera and set the autofocus into action the Scoter suddenly decided to fly so I pressed the shutter and machine-gunned about thirty shots away. Of course the duck was still very distant but a flying bird is a much bigger target than a stationary one so I was at least able to get a few more usable images of the bird as it flew back to the opposite end of the lake again. Perhaps it had a train to catch.

Our dilemma the next day, should the Scoter stay overnight again and into the New Year, when we were planning a trip into Somerset and then Gloucestershire on the way back, would be whether to return or not to the Reading hinterland and tick the bird again, this time for the 2022 list. Velvet Scoters are hard birds for the inland birder to see and we wouldn't get many chances through the year.