February Highlights & News

Peregrine Falcon Magdalen College Oxford City courtesy of Thomas Miller.  

February is not usually a month for producing headline sightings and 2018 was no  exception. But there was nonetheless a smattering of good county birds to keep interest alive as winter played out its final scerarios. Perhaps the bird receiving most attention was a much photographed female Black Redstart near Chipping Norton that featured regularly herein until 15th.

Another passerine of note was the wintering Great Grey Shrike seen at Baulking Pit on a few occasions, as well as on the Downs.

Great Grey Shrike Baulking Pit courtesy of Mark Merritt.

Hawfinch records showed no sign of slacking off with regular records from 17 different sites county-wide through the month. Peak counts came from Ardington with 22 Hawfinch seen there on 14th, bettered by 25 on 27th. But those high profile visitors were not alone amongst seasonal finches with Redpoll, Brambling and Siskin all noted widely from various sites.

Black-necked Grebe also fell into the good county bird category. 5 were reported from Sonning Eye on 8th and again on 27th, and 2 more frequented Dix Pit from from 18th to month's end. Wildfowl interest included a redhead Smew at Henley Road GPs on 7th & 8th, a female Scaup at Dix Pit on 11th, and Mandarin at Cholsey on 2nd and Lockinge on 25th. The home counties feral Snow Goose flock visited Farmoor Reservoir again on 4th and 12th.

Red head Smew Henley Rd GPs courtesy of Tom Bedford

Great White Egret continued to be seen at LWV Pit 60 and Woodstock, with another at Blenheim (3rd). A wintering Bittern was photographed in a new county location at LWV Pit 10 on 18th and 27th.

Iceland Gull Farmoor Reservoir courtesy of Nic Hallam.


February was a good month for scarcer Gulls, with our top larid finders producing sightings throughout. Caspian Gull were reported from Didcot (8th), Appleford (13th), Farmoor (17th) and Sonning Eye (18th). Iceland Gull records came from Farmoor (1st & 17-18th), Dix Pit (19 & 20th) and Port Meadow (23rd). Caspian, Iceland and Mediterranean Gulls unsually were all present in the same roost at Farmoor on 17th; while Caspian and Mediterranean Gulls were seen together at Sonning Eye on 18th.

Caspian Gull 1stw Appleford courtesy of Ian Lewington.

The county's regular wintering raptors continued to provide interest, most notably the Otmoor male Hen Harrier and the pair of Peregrine on Magdalen College. Peregrine were also reported from Otmoor, Balscote Quarry (15th) and Didcot Power Station (21st); while Merlin were seen on the Downs (10th) and at Otmoor (16th). A Marsh Harrier was at Baulking Pit on 3rd.

Hen Harrier Otmoor RSPB courtesy of Tezzer.

As harbingers of approaching spring, wader records increased as February progressed. Oystercatcher were most frequent, being logged at six separate sites. Early Curlew were photographed at Pit 60 (16th) and Otmoor (20th & 21st). Other sightings of interest were Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank at Port Meadow (2nd & 6th), while Ringed Plover, Redshank, Green Sandpiper and Ruff all passed through Otmoor towards the end of the month.

Curlew Otmoor courtesy of Tezzer.

Oystercatcher Pit 60 Standlake courtesy of Stephen Burch

But winter was not done yet as February ended with an especially sharp cold snap so remember to keep those feeders topped up.

Next the first spring migrants should be landing in the county before too many more days pass.

Peter Law

A year at Baulking Pit

by Mark Merritt

Lying approximately 1.75 miles Southwest of Stanford in the Vale Baulking Pit is a true Oxfordshire backwater. I think it's fair to say that before the arrival of a Long-tailed Duck in late 2012, many Oxon birders were unaware of a pit in the area at all. It's not even listed as a birdwatching site on the back of the OOS annual reports! It’s a young landscape with Fullers Earth extraction completing as recently as October 2005. By 2010 all of the industrial buildings had been removed and the area around the lake partially landscaped with trees and shrubs. Photographs from this time show a barren landscape with trimmed grass and scattered saplings. In the intervening years the plantations have matured into a mixture of scrub and young trees and the immediate grass area has been left untouched.

Needing a break from the endless thrill of downland birding I decided to pay a few visits to this seemingly under-watched pit. During 2016 I spent an increasing amount of time there and adopted it as a patch of sorts.  Curious as to how the avifauna would stack up against other County sites I decided to keep a year list for 2017, setting myself a nominal target of 100 species. I felt that this would be challenging but, with luck, achievable. I was to be pleasantly surprised!

During the winter my primary interest was in the Gull roost. Numbers varied greatly with anywhere between 400 and 4000 overnighting. Lesser Black-backed Gulls were the mainstay with Black-headed Gulls also a large presence. Together these tended to account for at least 90% of the roosts. Common Gull, Herring Gull and Yellow-Legged Gull were also consistently present in varying numbers. Patch gold was struck on the 21st of January when a juvenile Iceland Gull was observed and then again on the 22nd of February an adult turned up - both staying for at least 2 nights. Remarkably this made Iceland Gull more common than Great Black-Backed Gull which was recorded only once in the 1st winter period. Things were quieter on the waterfowl front, with the majority of ducks being Wigeon, Tufted Duck or Mallard. Gadwall and Pochard were present in smaller numbers whilst Teal and Shoveler were the only other ducks recorded at all in the 1st winter period. Four species of Owl were recorded although only two could be described as showy.  Little and Tawny remained heard only, this in contrast to the Barn Owls which would often be seen quartering at dawn and dusk. The real stars of the show were Short-Eared Owls with up to 4 present until mid-March - never a bird to tire of watching! Grey Partridges kerricked from the surrounding fields while the passerine interest was maintained by a pair of Stonechats - perhaps on retreat from their breeding grounds on the downs? A welcome visitor was a Green Sandpiper which utilised a flooded ditch all too briefly.

2nd of this species for the year

The first spring arrival was an Oystercatcher which spent some of March 11th flying around while generally refusing to settle, all in a very vocal fashion - with a lack of scrapes or mudbanks Baulking will never be likely to pull in great numbers of waders. Before the end of March Swallows and Sand Martins had arrived and Corn Buntings and Skylarks could be heard singing from the surrounding fields. Early April saw a pair of flyover Curlew give the pit the most cursory of inspections, quickly passing through. This month also saw the baulk of the resident Warblers return to join the single over-wintering Chiffchaff. Through Spring and Summer 9 of the 10 Warblers that one might reasonably expect to encounter in Oxfordshire could be seen and (more easily!) heard with Grasshopper Warbler being the only absentee. Making a mockery of any notion that Baulking is unattractive to waders were Common Sandpipers, present throughout April and May in small numbers. Other Notable passage birds included Wheatear, Redstart, Yellow Wagtail and Turtle Dove. The latter passed through like a bullet, a real blink and you miss it moment, glad I was facing the right way! The only record of Raven for the year was of a pair heading SW on the 29th of March.

Breeding resident with brood

June was the only month of the year where no additions were made to the year list. July saw only the addition of Redshank, a pattern emerging with a noisy wader failing to settle! Although August also yielded a single addition it was a fine juvenile Caspian Gull, a species which was to be recorded on a couple more occasions. Regarding breeding birds, Great Crested and Little Grebe were both successful, as were Mallard, Tufted Duck and Gadwall. Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler both seemed to have good seasons, the indolent song of the latter a constant backdrop. Further summer entertainment was provided by the futile attempts of Hobbys to dine on any of the three Hirundine species, they never got close to the Swifts either! Despite this, it was plain that the presence of a Hobby caused more agitation than the presence of a Sparrowhawk. The latter, along with Kestrel, Buzzard and Red Kite, being observed throughout the year.

Award winning Black Tern photo!

The first irrefutable sign of Autumn passage was a Spotted Flycatcher, hunting from the trees at the Western Edge of the pool at dusk on the 9th of September.  Also enjoying the rich insect life were a trio of juvenile Black Terns which were hunting well into dusk on the 25th of September. September was the only month where Kingfisher was recorded; although the individual was not seen well enough to age or sex, it’s tempting to conclude that this was a dispersing juvenile. The 3rd week of October saw a vocal yet elusive Ring Ouzel take up temporary residence, favouring the scrub to the East of the pit. The only Peregrine of the year was recorded at about this time. Early winter records included Grey Wagtail, Tree Sparrow, Brambling and Redpoll. A single Snipe was also observed, this was disappointing as several were recorded in the early part of the preceding Winter. The lack of Snipe may be due to the heavy sheep-grazing of a field which had previously been left to nature. Short-Eared Owls seem to have been nationally scarce this winter, but even if this were not the case, it seems unlikely that they would have returned to Baulking with its hunting grounds so greatly diminished. Modest flocks of winter thrushes occurred, with Fieldfare tending to outnumber Redwing by about 2 to 1. A flock of Linnets began to build, early counts were of approximately 30 birds but by New Year this gathering had quadrupled in size. The final new species recorded for the year came with a dapper pair of Pintail, first recorded on the 8th of December -  a welcome intrusion into a rather dull year for wildfowl.

Caspian Gull - a site first!

In total I recorded 107 species with perhaps the only truly surprising omission being Red-legged Partridge, a bird I have yet to encounter there at all. The same is true for Cuckoo. I have no reason to think that 107 was an especially high year count, ducks in particular seem to have a very high turnover and could easily be missed. It is also worth noting that only my personal records have been counted here. Birds seen in recent times but not in 2017 include Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Mediterranean Gull, Arctic tern, Great White Egret, Egyptian Goose, Little Gull, Mandarin Duck, Shelduck, Goosander, Black-necked Grebe, Black-Tailed Godwit, Tree Pipit, Long-tailed Duck, Marsh Harrier, Merlin and Great Grey Shrike - the latter recorded late 2016 and early 2018!

While this isolated waterbody at the foot of the downs will never trouble Otmoor or Farmoor in terms of year-end totals it is, to my mind at least, a bit of an undiscovered gem.

Mark & chums.