Flashback #2; 2-3 July 2022

July 2022 was a hectic, bird filled month. It's normally a month where little moves, known as the doldrums in birding circles when birds have bred and young have fledged and second broods are started. However, despite the birds being there, they have stopped singing and become hard to see in the lush vegetation. Luckily for the twitcher and year lister, it's also a good month for seeing rare birds and especially waders since they start their long migrations southwards after breeding high up in the Arctic.

Feathers in February 2023, Part 2; White-rumped Sandpiper!

Friday 17 February; Slimbridge

A White-rumped Sandpiper had been found at Slimbridge a few days before, a very unseasonal record of a bird usually encountered during the migration periods. Our chance to make it an early addition to our year list came a few days later. Initially the Dunlin sized wading bird had shown only distantly from some of the outlying hides but on the previous day had turned up and fed right in front of the Discovery hide on the South Lake. We had to wait for a space at the windows to come available before we joined the other birders there.

For half an hour there were many claims of the White-rumped Sandpiper but I could only see Dunlins at the spots where the rarer bird was supposed to be. Identifying small wading birds is never easy and in their drab winter garb can be very tricky. But there are enough differences between the two species to enable correct identification but I guess some folk were just too over eager and too expectant that the Sandpiper would be in exactly the same place as the day before. Happily though the correct bird with its broad pale supercilium, short bill and long attenuated body flew in and landed by a small island before taking a brisk bath in the middle of a sea of roosting Lapwings. Not that you could identify it from any of the photos that I took at the time!

White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicolis), centre 

The White-rumped Sandpiper promptly disappeared and didn't return for another hour so we gave up and headed to the cafe for a coffee. Our luck was in though when the Sandpiper was refound from the Peng Observatory just fifty metres away from where we were. The coffee was gulped down and we were looking out through the glass windows of the (very warm) heated observatory just minutes later. I spotted a small grey wader in exactly the spot where the White-rumped Sandpiper was supposed to be and confusingly, and frustratingly, only saw a Dunlin again!

Dunlin (Calidris alpina)

It quickly dawned on me that if the White-rumped Sandpiper was on the Rushy, then it must have moved to the lower pool so, leaving Mrs Caley in the warm, I briskly transferred to the Rushy hide. The presence of at least a dozen other birders (and toggers) indicated that the target bird was there. I found a space and was amazed to see the Sandpiper just metres away on the closest edge of the pool. I quickly took a couple of shots and returned to the observatory to collect Mrs Caley.

Now we could both enjoy the bird together. Incredibly some of the other folk previously hogging the hide windows had left, and we'd clearly been quicker of the mark than most of the other birders present so we were able to get some really good views of the White-rumped Sandpiper as it fed happily at the margins of the pond.

The Sandpiper was steadily working its way along the shore but away from the hide so we'd already had the best views and photo opportunities, so I cast my net further around the Rushy and found the long staying drake Greater Scaup asleep on an island in front of the observatory.

Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)

A pair of Black-tailed Godwits were either, fighting or loving each other, I couldn't work out which, on the pool. At times they looked as if they hated one another then at other times it all looked very amiable.  After watching their antics for a while, I decided they must be married!

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa islandica)

A female Mallard was less fortunate in front of the hide. When it comes to Mallards, there is no love at all and the females are fair game for many of the drakes at once. This female was having to deal with the attentions of four males and at times it looked like pretty rough stuff. I found it incredible that the duck appeared to be smiling throughout, and she appeared as if she enjoyed it. Just appearances I know because Mallards are blessed with smily faces.

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Other birds showing close to the hide included a gorgeous Moorhen, another of those taken for granted species because they are common, although not as many when I was a child, "Moggies" were everywhere back then. Look closely and a beautiful bird is right there. Shelducks are also handsome birds and like the Moorhen have striking red bills.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)

There are always a fair few of the gorgeous Pintails on the Rushy and they always give extremely close views from the hide. Many of the ducks here loiter all day and wait for the swan feeds that take place late in the afternoons.

Pintail (Anas acuta)

Another duck arrived in time for the afternoon feed but this one, a fabulous drake Mandarin, was better because, like the Greater Scaup, was a year tick. The Mandarin made a beeline for the shore right in front of the hide and afforded us great views.

Mandarin (Aix galericulata)

An odd duck was also waiting for the handouts but I had no idea what species it was although it was clearly a variety of Shelduck. Twitterati informed me that it was considered to be a Cape Shelduck which are kept as part of the captive collection at Slimbridge, but this bird was unringed so had likely come from a collection elsewhere since it's highly unlikely that it had come from South Africa.

Cape Shelduck

We decided to stay on for the swan feed and killed a bit of time by visiting the Tack Piece hides and ticking off some of the Geese on offer, most notably the White-fronted & Barnacle flock but also the Ross's and Snow Geese that may or may not be genuine articles, which they are most probably not but both worthy of inclusion on the Old Caley year list (just means I have to get 302 to be sure if I end up chasing another Big Year total). Snow an Ross's Geese look very similar in being virtually all white but the Snow Goose is bigger and has a much larger bill.

Snow Goose (Anser caerulescens)

Ross's Goose (Anser rossii) & Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)

The swan feed, primarily designed to supplement the diets of the hundred or so Bewick's Swans on site, but which also offers extra food to many other species including the Greater Scaup, Mandarin Duck and Pintails that we saw earlier, made a relaxed change to our birding despite the frenetic activity outside the windows. The presentation by the Swan master was interesting and worth listening to. There is never a dull day to be had at Slimbridge and there is almost always a scarce or rare bird to enjoy.

Bewick's Swan (Cygnus colombianus)

The Swan Feed 

Year List additions;

138) Black-tailed Godwit, 139) White-rumped Sandpiper, 140) Greater Scaup, 141) White-fronted Goose, 142) Barnacle Goose, 143) Snow Goose, 144) Ross's Goose, 145) Mandarin Duck

April Brief Part 3; Gropper-tastic!

Saturday 23rd April; Farmoor for More Year Birds

On a breezy day fitting for the time of year we once again, with nothing better to do, opted for an easy walk around Farmoor and Pinkhill. Interestingly no other birders had the same idea so we had the entire causeway to ourselves as we strolled. I was hoping for an interesting wader or two but found absolutely none! So it was left to the local resident birds to provide some scant entertainment. I was hoping for some Swifts but it seems as if they're going to be late returning this year.

Great Crested Grebe

Mute Swan

There was an expected year tick when a Common Tern flew past us and it was quickly followed by another. Common Terns always form the vanguard of the Tern species for us. Over the next few months we'd hopefully see several more species of the family.

Common Tern

The trees and bushes of Pinkhill provided us with a couple more year ticks although trying to get a photo of either the Garden Warbler or Lesser Whitethroat proved beyond me. Equally elusive was the Grasshopper Warbler that briefly reeled from deep inside a bush close to the Lock. We caught a brief view of it as it flew across the road but that was it. I felt that the look a Wood Pigeon gave me pretty much summed up the day so far.

Wood Pigeon

The best birds were seen as we walked along the northern side of F1. Firstly we watched a Kestrel hunting for prey along the embankment on the Pinkhill boundary. 

Kestrel

Then we heard, and found, a Cuckoo by one of the settling ponds. We were able to watch the Cuckoo hunt and catch several Caterpillars and enjoyed fine views. It was great to see the Cuckoo, although we saw a distant bird at otmoor the week before, to sit and watch the antics of probably our most charismatic and certainly most unusual of summer migrants really nails home the fact that winter has gone. The small Warblers and Dunnocks that fluttered about the scrub will be less pleased to see the Cuckoo back.

Cuckoo

On another of the settling pools was a single Common Sandpiper which bobbed along until an overflying Heron sent it packing. Common Sandpipers are frequently found at Farmoor at all times of the year except for mid-summer. This bird would likely be moving northwards to its breeding grounds beside a fast flowing river or a deep Scottish Loch.

Common Sandpiper

Grey Heron

On our way home we stopped next to a seasonal flood near Weston-on-the-Green where there were a pair of Curlew and a pair of Green Sandpipers. All in all, it had been a decent morning birding the local area.

Curlew

Green Sandpiper

Year List additions;

193) Common Tern, 194) Garden Warbler, 195) Lesser Whitethroat

Sunday 24th April; Exploring a New Place

There are birds that are considered reasonably common across some parts of the country but are still difficult to find in Oxfordshire. I had already seen one of these, Tree Sparrow, earlier in the year but another, Marsh Tit, had so far eluded me this year. I'd recently become aware of a BBOWT reserve in the south of the county that hosted both species so on a fine and breezy morning (every day seems to be windy these days) we headed off to Chimney Meadows where we'd never been before. To visit the reserve requires quite a long walk from the carpark through farmland to a mixed habitat site adjoining the River Thames.

Birds were plentiful along the access road, most notable were Grey Partridge and Green Woodpecker, but we were most interested in a small hide in a small woodland area where a friend of mine (thanks Jess) had seen both of our target birds during the previous week. We found the hide and looked out of the slats at a small pond, dense scrub with bigger trees beyond and two separate feeding stations. Initially there were no takers at the feeders at all and it was a good fifteen minutes or so before the birds began arriving. Then some of our common birds arrived, Dunnocks, Robins, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Goldfinches all fed at the feeders or on the ground beneath them and a Wren sang heartily from the reeds at the pond edge. All very nice but not what we had hoped for. 

Blue Tit

Dunnock

Goldfinch

Wren

I could hear the chirping of Tree Sparrows off to our left but couldn't see them at all in the dense foliage. I could see nest boxes in the trees, presumably placed for them but there was no movement at any of them. Then with no warning a Tree Sparrow appeared in the tree containing the feeders to the left of the hide. It was joined by another but both were skittish and I had great difficulty in getting photos, not helped by the ridiculous height that the windows of the hide were placed. Over the course of the next hour or so up to four Tree Sparrows visited but all were equally furtive.

Tree Sparrow

The bird that we most wanted to see, for the year tick, showed much better. A pair of Marsh Tits regularly visited the trees and feeders. In the spirit of true photography snobbery, I was only interested in capturing the birds away from the feeders which required much effort and luck but eventually I had what I wanted.

Marsh Tit

We took a walk to the river and looked off of the ancient bridge. A singing Cetti's Warbler was the best bird seen there. We made a note to visit again next year, possibly a bit later on in May. The whole area looks good for summering birds, many of which hadn't arrived yet.

Year List addition;

196) Marsh Tit

Common Whitethroat

Tuesday 26th April; Whin Win!

The discovery of a Whinchat at our local Bicester Wetlands Reserve (BWR) saw us make a late afternoon trip to see it. The Whinchat had been found by our good friend Colin who was checking the site earlier in the morning and the unusual bird for the reserve was still present at lunchtime. The few hours that we were there would prove to be memorable but not because of the Whinchat.

 The Whinchat had been found in the Cattle field at the southern end of the reserve. We arrived at just after three-thirty in the afternoon and headed straight to the field which was thankfully sans Cows. We spotted the Whinchat immediately on the fence line that borders the stream which links the main lagoon to the Cattle Bridge Pool (CBP). The Whinchat flew towards the pool so we followed it, taking the track alongside the railway line that leads to the hide and which overlooks the CBP. Halfway there I stopped suddenly and announced to Mrs Caley, "Listen. I can hear a Grasshopper Warbler reeling". Sure enough from the direction of where we'd first seen the Whinchat came the faint reeling song of a Gropper, our fourth in just a week. The Gropper would also be our first ever at BWR. We couldn't place it though and it went silent so we continued on to the hide.

From the hide we looked out at the small pool and noticed a pair of Little Ringed Plovers (LRP) close to the nearest bank. The two LRP showed great interest in each other and the, presumably, male bird was shadowing the female as she pecked away at the insects on the mud. Then in an instant the male was on top of the female and after a bit of shuffling into position the pair copulated! Plover Lovers making little, Little Ringed Plovers!

Little Ringed Plovers

The bird that we'd come to see popped up onto a fence post at the far edge of the pool, close enough for a record shot at least. We usually either have to go to Wales or another upland area to year tick Whinchats or have to wait for passage migrants to turn up at Otmoor so to get one at our local BWR was a bonus. Not close and not a stonking male bird but they all count on a year, and site, list.

Whinchat

I scanned back to the fence line by the stream and was amazed to see the Grasshopper Warbler stood on top of one of the posts. Even though it wasn't audible, it was clearly reeling. The Whinchat was in the bag and I'm a great fan of Groppers so I made my way back to the field and edged closer to where it had been reeling from.

Grasshopper Warbler

Initially there was no sign of the Gropper so I located the post, which was located in a thick patch of bramble, and ensconced myself down into the long grass and waited. It was less than five minutes when the Gropper appeared into full view. It perched on the barbed wire fence and began reeling. Better still, it was only fifteen feet away. I couldn't miss!

The Gropper reeled away non-stop for a good five minutes before dropping down into the vegetation. I shifted my position slightly so as to get a more front on view to where the Gropper had sung from and waited again. In just a few minutes  I was enjoying the best views of a Gropper since I found a pair feeding their chicks at Pinkhill by the Thames a couple of years ago. The difference here was that the bird was now stood atop the original song post and belting it out right in front of me. I've dreamt and wished for an opportunity just like this for years since seeing a reeling male very close up in my pre-camera days. What a bird! One of my favourites and I now have some special photos to lodge firmly near the top of my portfolio.

Year List addition;

197) Whinchat

Wednesday 27th April; More Chat

I returned to BWR the following evening hoping for more Gropper action but it was strangely reticent to pose. I guess  the cooler and damp conditions kept it more subdued. Kev and Adrian joined me at the CBP hide and we all had good views of the Whinchat, much better than the previous day, even though the drizzle didn't help to improve much on the photography front. The Whinchat was finding plenty to eat and would remain for another couple of days before moving off.