A suitably brief résumé from me for April. Mainly because it was six months ago. The best birds seen during the month have already been featured in a couple of previous blogs so you can find longer accounts and many more photos of those further back if you so wish.
Friday28th January; Chocolate Box Birding!
Just before Christmas a small flock of Hawfinches had been discovered and reported via the Bird News Services in North Oxfordshire frequenting trees in a couple of neighbouring villages close to Banbury. The birds proved to be very elusive and despite being searched for on subsequent days by several local birders, including ourselves, nobody was able to pin them down. Fast forward to the end of January when intrepid local birder, Mike Pollard, found presumably the same flock feeding in Yew trees in Great Tew, around five miles away from the original sightings. Great Tew is a quintessentially English village with charming cottages, a huge Manor House with vast gardens and country estate and locally famous (and very expensive) pub and cafe. It is usually a very popular place for American tourists to visit and the village can become very busy, particularly in the summer, but tourism is very muted owing to the pandemic so for the time being the village is reasonably quiet and undisturbed.
Our quest to see the Hawfinches began on Friday morning. We knew where Mike had seen the birds although he had said that they were very mobile and I know Great Tew quite well having worked there a few times over the years. Our home is only fourteen miles away, about twenty-five minutes by road. We planned on stopping at a pub in another village on the way that from experience produces excellent breakfasts but incredibly as we walked into the pub at 09:15 we were told that they were full! So with no other viable local options available, we thought we'd try the Great Tew village cafe. As with many "posh" cafes these days, the Quince & Clover offered what I think of as "weird" food for breakfast and wasn't really to my taste, I'm far from posh and don't see the problem with a "proper" breakfast and to my mind, Avocado and Broccoli shouldn't be on any breakfast plate but maybe that's the dinosaur in me. The coffee was excellent but maybe something stronger should be offered to relieve the shock at the size of the bill which was as heavy as the ones possessed by the Hawfinches!
A couple of other birders were also on site and we said a few hello's as we wandered around the village. Every tree was scrutinised for any bird that looked like a Hawfinch but the only ones that we saw were flyover birds, first two then a single and finally three birds. None of them settled although I did see the lone bird fly up from a tree as soon as I spotted it.
Later in the afternoon we made a quick visit to our local wetlands reserve and managed to conjure up our first Green Sandpiper of the year.
Year List additions;
122) Greenfinch, 123) Hawfinch, 124) Green Sandpiper
Saturday29th January; Another Dippy Dippy Shrike!
We had spent Saturday dipping a Great Grey Shrike close to Cambridge but went on to "save the day" by getting some fine views of a small group of nine Tundra Bean Geese at Welney WWT in the afternoon, all in some very blustery weather. A fine Merlin also helped to ease the disappointment at missing out on yet another Great Grey Shrike which must be the species that we dip the most and far more often than we don't. They are difficult birds to pin down. The Shrike had been present since November and had shown virtually every day until Saturday when it was nowhere to be seen and of course it turned up again in the same place the next day. That is so typical!
Welney doesn't quite have the allure of Slimbridge, it lacks the variety of habitat and consequently the spread of birds that the flagship reserve has, but is still a great place to visit. We've seen a singing Bluethroat and a Pallid Harrier at Welney in the past so it holds many good birding memories. The nine Tundra Bean Geese were resting sleepily on the main island when we arrived in very windy weather mid-afternoon. Fortunately a couple of them awoke and went for a quick paddle and drink allowing some good reference points to be taken.
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| sleepy Tundra Bean Geese |
To rouse the rest of the flock though needed a close flyby by a Marsh Harrier although the Geese were big enough to stand (or sit) their ground. It took a helicopter flying over to get the Geese to leave their slumber and fly off.
Welney is of course a hugely vital staging post for thousands of waterbirds and we enjoyed good views of them all, not as close as you can at Slimbridge perhaps but nice all the same. The only slight disappointment was missing out on a Barn Owl, too windy maybe for them to fly early, but that's par for the course for us recently, after seeing all of our resident Owl species in the first fortnight last year, this time around we are struggling. We did see a Short-eared Owl but that was hunting very distantly on the far side of the floods.
By contrast our friends Kyle and Kev had spent some time chasing the Hawfinches on Saturday and despite having the same trouble in pinning them down as we had the day before, they had at least had the good fortune to see one feeding in a Yew tree that enabled Kyle to get some really nice photos (see them at Birdwatch Britannia). My pique was reignited for the next day!
Year List additions;
126) Grey Partridge, 127) Tundra Bean Goose, 128) Merlin
Sunday30th January; More Finches!
So, fired up by their success, Mrs Caley and I returned to Great Tew early on Sunday morning. We parked up in the same place, this time the road was devoid of cars and we had the run of the place to ourselves. We had left the car for less than a minute and walked less than ten metres from it when a Hawfinch flew out from the hedge on our left and alighted in a Bramble on the other side of the road. It then briefly flew into a tree above the Yews by the car. Although it was still very gloomy, it was only just eight o'clock, I managed to grab a couple of half-decent record shots.
The Hawfinch departed but other birds were around to keep us occupied, especially a Goldcrest that was working its way through a beech hedge by the path. The tiny little sprite was animated too and was regularly "flaring" its orange-red crest feathers, which briefly had me thinking that I'd found a Firecrest. It was a Goldcrest however, and we followed it as it fervently hunted its microscopic insect breakfast.
I thought I saw a Hawfinch fly into one of the Yews so we decided to return to the car and watch from within it. A vehicle acts as a good hide especially if birds are as close to a road such as these promised to be. We were helped by the sun bursting forth from behind the up to now heavy clouds and even if the Yews remained in shade the grassy bank on which they stood were suddenly illuminated. There was no obvious sign of any Hawfinches but other birds were on hand to entertain. The two smallest Yews were being guarded by a pair of Mistle Thrushes although they were as furtive as the Hawfinches. Woe betide any other Thrush species that ventured into those trees. Redwings were particularly dealt with aggressively by the Mistle Thrushes but that animosity was also extended towards Blackbirds and Song Thrushes, and to a lesser extent to Greenfinches too. Song Thrushes knew their place, and that was on the ground beneath the trees.
A female Bullfinch appeared on a small Bramble bush behind the trees and commenced nibbling away at shrivelled up Blackberries to extract the seeds. Bullfinches are messy eaters but that bill wasn't developed for decoration but for dealing with hard seeds and stones and the fleshy pulp of the berries isn't the part that the bird wants. Hawfinches, that have even bigger and more powerful bills than Bullfinches, are similarly untidy diners.
The female Bullfinch was joined at the banquet by the more brightly male although he seemed to be less interested in eating. Bullfinches are many peoples favourite birds, they bring a taste of the exotic into many gardens and when lit up by the low winter sun they look stunning!
Mrs Caley noticed some movement in the darkest part of the shadiest Yew tree. The bird responsible for the movement took some finding but there secreted within the tree and very difficult to see behind the fronds was a male Hawfinch. Taking a photo of the bird was even more tricky, not only because it was so dark in the confines of the tree but locating the bird in the viewfinder was almost a task too far. When I did eventually get on it I thought that I was just seeing its face between the needles and yet the edited image shows almost the whole bird proving just how well the bird blends into its habitat. Hawfinches are much easier to observe when they perch high up in the surrounding trees.
Fifteen minutes later I noticed some more movement on a branch that extended out towards the lighter side of the Yew but it was still shaded by overhanging and taller trees behind. It was another Hawfinch, this time a slightly more muted plumaged female, that was moving very gingerly through the branches. It settled almost in full view giving me a good chance at a few better shots. Unfortunately I had the same problems as before with locating the bird through the viewfinder and then actually focussing on it (which I failed to do). How I wished that I'd get a similar opportunity with a bird in full sunshine and not hidden away in the shade.
Monday31st January; Just Can't Get Enough & A King (Queen)
I had yet another day off so we headed back to Great Tew once more to have another go at claiming a good view of one or more of the Hawfinches. We resolutely stayed in the car this time, partly because of the blustery wind and associated rainy squalls but also to maximise our chances of seeing without disturbing any Hawfinches. That weather put paid to any chance of getting those decent views although I did find a Hawfinch feeding very quietly tucked away within the often violently shaking branches of one of the Yews.
More violence was exhibited by the resident Mistle Thrushes which were even more protective than before and just about every other bird than the Hawfinch were ousted in some style by them. Being larger the Mistle Thrushes were able to cling on to the outer branches more easily and posed more readily for photos. But what I really wanted was for a Hawfinch to pose that openly and I guess that Hawfinches just don't do that, certainly not for me anyway.
There was no further sign of the Hawfinches although a few Greenfinches and other smaller birds ran the gauntlet of the Mistle Thrushes. The greenfinches were quite difficult to pick out amongst the similarly coloured Yew leaves.
We stopped for a coffee at Yarnton on our way through to Oxford where I wanted to have another go at photographing the Kingfisher there. The week before I'd not been able to see the female Kingfisher, distinguished by having a red lower mandible to the bill as opposed to the all black bill of the male, at all since she had flown off before I knew what was happening. This time, given the opportunity I would exercise a bit more fieldcraft and hopefully do better. On arriving at the carpark, I instantly spied the female Kingfisher perched in a similar place as before. This time though I was keen not to frighten her off so exited the car carefully. Unfortunately she wasn't perched in a very accessible spot and the shots were obscured by many small branches. Then to compound the problem a large dog went bounding straight down the bank and into the water right next to the favoured, now vacated branch since the Kingfisher had unsurprisingly fled downstream. Birding in urban environments has many interruptions, not least having to answer the inevitable question of, "What are you looking at?". "Nothing as it happens, thanks to your dog!"
I sat in the car with Mrs Caley enjoying the warm rays of sunshine that had replaced the earlier inclement weather and wondered whether it would be worth returning to Great Tew again but I felt that it was probably only a temporary lull in a cycle of more rain to come. I also felt sure that the Queen-fisher would come back to her favourite fishing spot as soon as she felt the coast was clear and it was safe again. A few minutes later I looked back towards the river and noticed that she was indeed perched there again. Kingfishers usually fly close to the water surface so it had managed to steal back in without me noticing. It had also obligingly chosen a less cluttered branch. I had also had the foresight to keep the camera on my person so didn't have to leave the car to photograph the bird which was only fifteen feet away.
The female Kingfisher then obliged me even more by diving in after a fish. I didn't see the actual entry into the water because I was constrained by the car and my view was restricted but she did pop onto a partly submerged log in which to devour her catch. Images were difficult to get owing to me having to lean partly out of the car window to take the shots and hence they weren't my best.
When the (Queen) Kingfisher flew up to a higher branch to scour for its next fish it was obscured by more branches again. I didn't want to disturb it so moved the car away before getting out and finding myself a better angle for a few more photos. My fun didn't last too long though when the bird was once again put to flight, this time by an over enthusiastic couple who wanted some smoochy selfies next to the river. Like I said, there are many disruptions when urban birding.
Thursday3rd February; Score Finches!
I have been working just a few miles from the Hawfinches and had popped in a few times on my way to and from the site. I don't take my birding kit to work however, the temptations to skive off would be far too great, so had to make do with my old (and first) pair of Kowa binoculars which were never that good and certainly no comparison to the expensive ones that I use these days. I met a few of my birding friends there through the week and all had enjoyed some views of the Hawfinches. On Thursday Mike, the original finder of the birds had reported more than twenty of the birds centred in and around the church area, a spot that I had neglected to look at myself so far. I finished work at lunchtime and walked through the churchyard scanning the skies, the tall trees and the many Yews that grew there. A flock of around fifteen Hawfinches flew over my head and alighted in one of the tall trees. I had cracking views though they were poor through the rudimentary "work" bins. I should really invest in a better pair to keep in the van. And of course I had no camera. Thankfully there would be time for me to return home and collect my gear and Mrs Caley and return by three o'clock.
Mrs Caley thought better of it so it was just me. I was alone at the church too because the other birders that had been present earlier had left. Unfortunately there was no sign of any Hawfinches either, in the hour or so I'd been gone the birds had seemingly shipped out as well. I wandered around for a while and then remembered that Mike had said that he'd had really good views of several Hawfinches in a pair of Yews within the estate grounds but which could only be seen from the Ledwell Road. I walked around to the spot and peered over the six-foot high wall that protects the garden from oiks like me. The two trees, set amongst many other ornamental trees, were around fifty-feet from the road. Luckily there is a strip of grassy verge on which to stand otherwise I'd have been taking a huge risk with the traffic trundling in and out of the very upmarket Soho Farmhouse country club just a few hundred yards away. The Yews were illuminated by the late afternoon sun but appeared empty of birds. I watched a Nuthatch peck away at a dead tree next to the Yews and then, after ten minutes or so, noticed a very pale coloured bird fluttering along the right hand Yew. It was a Hawfinch!
A few seconds later I noticed another Hawfinch. With the sunlight making the birds appear so bright there was no problem in getting some nice images this time despite the increased viewing distance. The two birds were behaving quite strangely. Instead of sitting in the Yews patiently selecting berries or seeds to eat they both energetically flew up, down and around the outer branches, only settling temporarily, as if they were flycatching, which I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have been because they are hardly built for that type of feeding.
My best guess is that the Hawfinches must have been striving to get to the ends of the wispiest branches which were then unable to sustain their weight so it was a case of snatch and grab. The birds were on view sporadically, sometimes they'd disappear into the unseen parts of the trees but over fifteen-minutes I had some nice moments to watch them and take photos. It must have been some sight to see the whole flock feeding in those Yews as Mike had done earlier that day. Then the Hawfinches flew up to the top of one of the Yews and departed back towards the church. I was happy and thrilled that I'd finally been able to get some clear views of them.
Thank you for reading the blog!
Friday21st January; Celebrity Snub
On the River Thames in Oxford where the main channel has been split into several parts so that folk with boats can navigate shallows and fast moving stretches of water, is a bridge that crosses one of the shallow sections. This is "Morse" country, until recently plagued by zillions of eager tourists who have read the books or watched the TV show, but now thankfully only blighted by thousands since international tourism isn't really a thing any more. The short stretch of river between the bridge and a weir downstream has become the well known spot, amongst local birders and photographers, for seeing a pair of Kingfishers.
I have seen lots of really excellent photos of the Kingfishers taken on the river as it winds its way through Port Meadow, the open flat grassy floodplain that provides the citizens of Oxford with a calm and tranquil space in which to jog, walk their dogs and generally enjoy whatever noisy pastime they get their pleasure from. Even birders grab some fun out there and the Meadow is a well known hotspot for scarce county bird records, most recently a wintering Dotterel was found there and before that a Pectoral Sandpiper, which incidentally was my first county record of the species. Despite the ease of access and that it's only a dozen miles from home I have hardly ever visited Port Meadow for birding although my apparent disregard for the place may need some rethinking in future. Most studies of Kingfishers are of a stationary bird perched motionless on a branch, while it waits for a fish to swim close by that it can catch. However, there is always the opportunity to capture the Kingfisher in mid-dive as it plummets towards the water, or even the moment when the bill spears the waters surface. And of course you can photograph the bird when it has a captured fish in its bill ready for consumption. Images of a diving Kingfisher are difficult to capture though, the bird doesn't dive from a great height like an Osprey would, so it is quick to hit the water once leaving its perch. It also gives no warning as to when it will dive and most fingers on camera buttons are not fast enough to react once the bird has left its perch. Hence the well known and very dubious method that some professional photographers have engineered of placing captive fish in a tank and putting that in the water, a practice that I entirely and wholeheartedly abhor, and using motion sensitive camera shutters to capture the moment. In my opinion if photography of birds can't be one hundred percent natural then what's the point? None at all to my mind.
Anyway on the Friday morning after the toils of a supermarket sweep, I made my way to the designated carpark to try my arm at gaining a good view and maybe some nice photos of my own of the celebrity Kingfisher. We parked right at the river end of the carpark, jumped out of the car and booted up, excited and hopeful of seeing the Kingfisher. Then the plans unravelled right before my eyes. As I lifted the camera strap over my head, I noticed the Kingfisher on a branch over the river no more than twenty feet away. I was not expecting that at all and maybe related the fact a bit too loudly and excitedly to Mrs Caley. As I raised the camera to take a shot, the Kingfisher turned tail and fled tootling away down river. It wouldn't have mattered anyway since I hadn't even switched the camera on! We never saw the supposedly showy female Kingfisher again that morning!
It wasn't for the lack of trying though. We walked downriver and back for a mile or so (twice) checking all the spots and perches that the Kingfisher favours (Port Meadow regular and ace photographer, Jessica had kindly supplied me with detailed info) but we never pinned her down. We did however, see a male Kingfisher but he was fishing off a mooring pontoon right over the side of the river and at one of the widest points too so there were no close frame filling views of him.
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| male Kingfisher |
We watched from the bridge for a while, another good spot to watch from, but had to make do with an unusual view from directly above of a Grey Wagtail that was carefully doing its own fishing of a sort on a shallow ledge of the bridge supports and a plethora of Goldfinches feeding in the tops of tall trees (alders I think).
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| Great Wagtail |
With no more luck with either Kingfisher we gave up but we'd had a nice walk on a chilly morning and I had learned a bit more about the meadow. I had also done an important recce for further visits.
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| Cormorant |
Year List addition;
114) Kingfisher
Saturday22nd January; Red-necked Willow Tree!
We didn't make it Carsington Water the week before having been put off by the foggy weather so decided to go for it this time. At just under two hours drive away, the huge reservoir shouldn't really be on the agenda unless travelling to or back from a twitch further up north but there are special birds there that are hard to see locally. There was also the added attraction of not one but two Red-necked Grebes present, a species that I didn't see at all last year.
It was still a bit gloomy, and very cold, at eight o'clock when we parked up in the Millfields carpark. One of the Red-necked Grebes was supposed to hang out by the inlet tower close to the carpark so it should be a snip to see it. The carpark also has bird feeders where a couple of the other target birds of the day come to feed on seed. I drove around the carpark looking for the said feeders but couldn't find them at first but on my second sweep noticed them by the first parking bay that you come to! I parked up right next to them and immediately saw a couple of Tree Sparrows on one of the hanging seed feeders. Tree Sparrows have become increasingly tough to see in Oxfordshire and are thinning out in neighbouring counties too. Seeing them here will save spending time looking for them back at home although it would be far more exciting to find some there.
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| Tree Sparrow |
We walked along the path to the reservoir, bracing the very chilly wind that whistled across the water. It's a very exposed site and always feels cold, we've only just warmed up after a visit last November to see a Snow Bunting, so we had made sure that we were well togged up. I checked the immediate part of the reservoir but only found common waterbirds plus a nice "herd" of eighteen Whooper Swans that were noisily "whooping" away to each other.
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| Whooper Swans |
I cast the net further, and further out from the bank but still no joy. Another birder came towards us walking from the other end of the dam. He told us that both Red-necked Grebes were at the other of the reservoir and could be seen from the Lane End hide but should just about be viewable with a scope from the slight kink in the dam wall which was about half a mile from where we stood. Rather than return to the car and drive to the Sheepwash carpark and walk for half a mile to the hide we (foolishly) decided to take our chances from the dam, after all one or both of the Grebes could choose to return to the Millfields end of the reservoir. I made frequent stops as we walked along the dam and made scans of the water for the Red-necked Grebes. On one scan I found a Great Northern Diver almost out in the middle of the reservoir. After the very close views we've had recently of a juvenile GND at Farmoor, I didn't waste any time trying to gain useless images of this one. As we reached the slight bend in the dam wall, I scanned one last time and immediately set eyes on one of the Red-necked Grebes. Half a mile out but a year tick and comparable to the last one we saw at Rutland Water in 2020. I was happy to see it though, safe in the knowledge that I have some satisfactory images of the bird that spent two spells of a few weeks duration at Farmoor in 2016, once in full breeding plumage and then later in the year in winter garb as per the bird seen here.
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| Red-necked Grebe, Rutland 02/11/2019 |
Happy that we'd at least seen a Red-necked Grebe we returned to the carpark and studied the bird feeders and the trees in which they hang. The trees and feeders were now illuminated by the low winter sun so any photos that I'd take would be much better than when we first arrived. To begin with I just watched the comings and goings of the various bird species that visited the feeders. Both of the special birds that we had hoped for were seen. Willow Tits frequently flew in to grab a seed before either flying off to the wooded areas to eat it (or cache it for later) or occasionally they ate it while still in the feeder tree. Pinning one down for photographs took a while but I succeeded in the end.
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| Willow Tit |
Tree Sparrows were less frequent at the dining table but once there they tended to sit on the feeders for a prolonged period. By exhibiting time honoured photography snobbery, I refused to take photos of the birds eating at the feeders since I wanted shots of birds in a more natural setting, that is in the tree itself. Eventually, well after waiting for around fifteen minutes anyway, a Tree Sparrow indulged me by doing just that by perching beautifully above the feeders and I had my authentic images to take home.
While waiting for the Willow Tits and Tree Sparrows to feed there were plenty of other birds around to keep me occupied. Great, Blue, Coal and Long-tailed Tits (as many as a dozen of the latter crammed onto one nut feeder), Chaffinches and Goldfinches, a Nuthatch that stole in and out as quick as quicksilver, Blackbirds and Pied Wagtails on the ground underneath the feeders, and even a small gaggle of Mallards all fed heartily at the offerings. A few afforded some really good photo opportunities.
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| Long-tailed Tit |
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| Coal Tit |
I finished by photographing a couple of Willow Tits that stayed longer than most in the tree to eat the seeds that they had gathered. Getting unobstructed views was the only difficulty in obtaining easily my best ever images of our rarest breeding Tit species, other than the highly localised Crested Tit in Scotland. My thanks go out to the couple who arrived bearing more seed and nut gifts for the birds. I don't know if they fill the feeders out of their own pockets or whether they do so on behalf of the local wildlife authority but I and every other birder who visits to see the Willow Tits, Tree Sparrows and other birds that feed on the handouts owe them a huge amount of gratitude.
We had plans to drive across country to Eyebrook reservoir near Rutland to add another scarce bird to our year list so left so that we'd have time to get there and find the birds. We found a cafe halfway and pulled in for refreshments, almost left without having any such was the poor standard of service and the time we had to wait, but still made it Eyebrook by three o'clock. There have been up to eighteen Smew at the reservoir this winter so it was surprising that it took us nearly half an hour to find any of the smart winter visiting ducks! We had had a similar problem when trying to year tick Smew at the reservoir two years ago but on that occasion it had been almost dark, today we had bright sunshine to search in. The problem was that the sun was largely against us making identification of any birds at distance tricky. Add to that the fact that Smew dive a lot so are not always on view and you may realise why I was struggling. It was only when we moved around to the opposite bank and found a gap in the hedge to view from that we found some Smew above water. Once we'd found one, others quickly followed and we ended up seeing five males and three of the very different looking females.
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| male (above) & female (below) Smew |
The range of wildfowl on offer was well represented with Goldeneye, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal and Tufted Ducks all present in varying numbers. There was even a couple of Avocets sifting through the shallows. We had set out with four target birds in our scope and had seen all four so it had been a successful sortie into the Midlands.
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| male Goldeneye |
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| Avocet |
Year List additions;
115) Tree Sparrow, 116) Red-necked Grebe, 117) Willow Tit, 118) Smew
