March Highlights

Goldfinch courtesy of Jim Hutchins

You may have noticed that we have changed our name recently to Oxon Birding in order to match our URL.Way back in 2010 we had originally decided upon the name Oxon Bird Log to avoid any confusion with the existing Oxonbirds forum.
We are always looking for new ways to make this blog better and we hope that you like the changes.
Thanks to Roger Wyatt & Peter Barker in helping to develop the new banners.

Cheers

Gnome & Badger 


Headline Birds

Contrary to T.S. Eliot's assertion, I would contend that March is actually the cruellest month, bringing with it the first tantalising glimpses of spring and promising so much yet often delivering relatively little on the migrant front. Still it couldn't be any worse than February which I don't have to remind you was pretty dire. So what did we get for this cruellest of month's?

The bird of the month should probably be the Great White Egret that was seen briefly at Rushy Common on the 20th. Whilst this species isn't the rarity it once was, it still technical counts as a nationally good bird. I wonder how long it will be before they're as common as Little Egrets?

Great Egret with Little Egret courtesy of Graham Lenton

We had a reasonable supporting case this month of "good county birds". Our old friend the Farmoor Red-necked Grebe turned up again on the 24th and stayed until the end of the month, no doubt having a brief rest before heading back north to its breeding grounds. The wide roaming female Long-tailed Duck was re-discovered at Cassington GP's on the 25th having apparently being present at the site for upwards of three weeks. It remained until at least the end of the month. Finally the second winter Iceland Gull returned to Sutton Courtenay  briefly on the 4th but sadly my prediction of some decent white-winged action this month fell rather flat and there were no other records.

Red-necked Grebe courtesy of John Reynolds

Raptors

As you'd expect for March raptor reports were rather thin on the ground. A Short-eared Owl remained at The Devil's Punchbowl until the latter half of the month. The Marsh Harrier was still at the RSPB Otmoor reserve through the month and Merlin were recorded on Otmoor on the 2nd and within Blenheim Park on the 19th-20th with a male seen at Mere End Down on the 30th.

Merlin courtesy of Mark Merritt

Gulls & Terns

The winter gulling season is pretty much over now though instead we start to get spring passage birds appearing. Adult Kittiwakes were seen at both of the county's reservoirs: the first two were found at Grimsbury Res on the 6th and again on the 24th and Farmoor had one on the 27th. An adult Yellow-legged Gull was at Port Meadow on the 3rd with a first winter bird at the same site on the 11th and two more individuals also there on the 16th. Two adult Mediterranean Gulls were amongst the Farmoor roost on the 25th. An early Sandwich Tern flew through Farmoor on the 27th.

Kittiwake Grimsbury Reservoir courtesy of Gareth Blockley

Wildfowl

The pair of long staying Whooper Swans had finally departed Lower Radley by the 26th. The three Smew remained at the Henley Road GP's: the two redheads were seen on the 9th and were joined by the drake on the 18th. Shelduck numbers peaked at twelve birds on Port Meadow on the 16th and two birds were present on Otmoor mid month. A pair of Red-crested Pochard were seen displaying at Farmoor Res at the end of the month. The elusive Mandarin was seen again on the canal adjacent to Grimsbury Res on the 19th. The wide roaming flock of feral Snow Geese (including five blue morph birds) were back in Oxon at Dix Pit on the 11th with the feral Ross's Goose remaining with the Greylags on Otmoor throughout the month.

Courting Red-crested Pochard Farmoor courtesy of Tezzer

Waders

It was a good month for Avocets in the county: one was discovered at Port Meadow late afternoon on the 13th with this or a second bird seen amongst the Sutton Courtenay gravel pits on the evening of the 13th and a further bird being seen at Farmoor on the 26th. 

Avocet Farmoor Reservoir courtesy of The Gun-slinger

The first returning Little-ringed Plover was on Port Meadow on the 14th with the first Ringed Plover for the county on Otmoor on the 7th. A second bird flew over Port Meadow on the 12th. Two Jack Snipe were seen at a traditional spot on Otmoor on the 7th & 14th with an individual at Iffley Meadows on the 9th. Returning Curlew groups were noted with 13 at Goosey near Stanford-in-the-Vale and the Otmoor flock rising quickly to at least 20 birds before pairs disbursed over the reserve. Likewise Otmoor Redshank numbers continued to rise over the month reaching over 35 birds by the end of March. A Black-tailed Godwit was seen on Otmoor on the 11th and the 21st-23rd with a second individual at the Bicester Wetlands Reserve from the 9th until the 18th. Otmoor held the highest count of Dunlin for the month with 20 on the 15th.

Little-ringed Plover Grimsbury Reservoir courtesy of Gareth Blockely

Passerines

The first two Wheatears of the year were seen on the 13th. Unsurprisingly both records were from the very south of Oxon on the Downs, namely White Horse Hill & Aston Upthorpe. Sand Martins seemed to have been rather few and far between so far with the first report coming from Port Meadow on the 17th. The only White Wagtail was at Farmoor on the 23rd. 

Wheatears courtesy of Badger

A fine male Ring Ouzel was found amongst the Harwell Laboratory complex on the 27th and the very first Swallow was seen heading north up the Thames at Port Meadow on the 31st. Four Bearded Tits were 'pinging' over Otmoor on the 23rd and hopes are high that these birds will stay through the breeding season. Two of the Siberian Chiffy's remained at the Abingdon sewage treatment works until the 12th. At least four Stonechats were at Otmoor on the 2nd with the number rising to at least seven by the 7th. A male Stonechat was a great find at Grimsbury Reservoir on the 4th with another male seen at Marcham on the 8th. A Rock Pipit was along the causeway at Farmoor reservoir on the 21st with two birds present on the 25th and a further individual was a great find at Pit 60 Standlake on the 29th.

Ring Ouzel Harwell courtesy of Mark Merritt

Locals Usually Know Best!! 

by Clackers

Despite the fact that I've always lived as far away from the sea as it's possible to get, one of the aspects of birding I've found most exciting is sea watching. For us, Portland Bill is the nearest sea watching point but passage there rarely lasts much beyond mid-morning and can be very hit and miss.

My first experience of a decent passage was on Gwennap Head, in Cornwall, at the end of the Porthgwarra moors. Here with the help of a master of ceremonies who looked scarily like a younger Phil Barnett, complete with jumper, I learnt how to work out Manx, Sooty and Balearic Shearwaters plus Storm Petrels and the odd Great Shearwater at a distance of up to a mile offshore. It was fascinating and exciting to anticipate what was next coming into view and sobering to consider the journeys the birds had made from their feeding or wintering grounds. 

To watch Shearwaters doing exactly what their name describes, shearing through high seas effortlessly and almost joyfully, is surely one of the most exhilarating sights in birding. The one member of the species that had eluded us was Cory's, a large, slow moving and frankly rather dull looking bird, which is probably the most difficult to catch up with from our coastline. On the evening of the 28th July, 2006, we set out on the long haul to deepest Cornwall and the valley of Porthgwarra to try and put things right. The journey, though long, was uneventful and we settled down in the car to sleep out what was left of the night. Our information was that Cory's had been passing by in some numbers for the last couple of days so daylight saw us atop the cliffs in great anticipation as we searched the heavy seas offshore. Luckily, there is something of a marker here in the shape of the Runnel Stone buoy, exactly a mile distant and constantly clanging out it's mournful warning to unwary sailors in small boats. As we lacked a local birder, on the head with us, to call the birds as they appeared, it was left to us to work out distance and direction using the buoy as a land (sea) mark. 

The hours passed, and along with them, 100+ Manxies, a few of both Sooty and Balearic plus 2 Arctic and 3 Great Skuas. Excellent stuff to keep us on our toes, but lacking our target bird. Finally, in the afternoon, one of the local experts joined us and was surprised we had not seen Cory's as several had been seen passing from sites higher up the coast. Within 10 minutes he suddenly announced ' Cory's, 10' clock, moving right, 2 scope widths from the buoy'. Magic!! We got onto the bird with some difficulty as it was at least half as far out again as we had been searching. 15 minutes later he called a second bird at the same distance and this time we were able to connect much quicker and get even better and more prolonged views. At around 1.5 miles out, we marvelled as a very large, rather grubby looking Shearwater ponderously but effortlessly carved it's way through the dark and lumpy seas. Without the help of our local chum pointing out that Cory's invariably move through much further out, we would have missed the opportunity to see this enigmatic seabird – and it's a long way to keep going back for another try!!