January 2023 Review

Highlights

So, after such an epic year with not one but three county firsts, two of which were available to the wider masses 2023 has a long way to live up to the reputation of 2022. Other than three county firsts and some other great birds in between the county year list ended on 205 with an additional 11 non-BOU and subspecies recorded.  A fairly decent count for the year all in all and probably about average over the last decade or so. So far this year the county has recorded a pretty decent 130 species, with a couple of these species unconfirmed such as garganey and smew.

The first couple weeks of the new year feels like everyone is out birding the county hard picking up birds for various county, patch and year lists. The first half of the month saw huge amounts of water deluged onto the county providing ample opportunities for scanning wildfowl flocks and with it the hope of picking up that hidden gem lurking out there. My expectations for January were pretty low, although some hope lingered that the green-winged teal might reappear somewhere preferably on my patch but if not somewhere within the county. In an unlikely coincidence the other American counterpart to one of our winter staples turned up at Port Meadow on the evening of the 12^th. 

 

American Wigeon

The American Wigeon, courtesy of Thomas Miller

 

Apart from a drake at Cassington GPs back in 2018 the last gettable bird in the county was over a decade ago in 2011, when a drake was present for just over a month at Rushy Common. Having never hosted either Nearctic cousin of our very common wigeon and teal that frequent the meadow during the winter months, Oxford was treated to its first American duck on the evening of the 12^th. A drake expertly picked out by one of the meadows more regular birders and an excellent urban record. The bird was distant and unfortunately only picked up just before dusk which didn’t allow for any other birders to get to the connect before sunset. With the amount of the disturbance on the meadow hopes for a long stayer seemed pretty slim even with the vast amount of water present on the site. The following day, as expected, numerous birders arrived on site at various staging points around the meadow but unfortunately the bird could not be relocated despite several hours of searching. Another near miss for the rest of us and the wait continues for a bird that lingers for any longer than a day! 

A better photo, courtesy of Thomas Miller

Waders

Wader records picked up slightly this month with several records of dunlin and black-tailed godwit within the county. Three black-tailed godwit were at Aynho on the 8^th with a single at Otmoor on the 18^th with a group of six dunlin also present on the site. Another black-tailed godwit was present at Abingdon STW on the 24^th sat out on one of the frozen fishing lakes with a large black-headed gull flock. A single dunlin was recorded on Farmoor early in January whilst another or possibly the same bird was seen at Port Meadow on the 13^th, which another bird here on the 29^th. A nice count of 15 dunlin came from Port Meadow on the 13^th barely consolation for the birders search in vain for the American wigeon.

A wintering green sandpiper continued to be present in Sutton Courtenay frequenting Appleford GP’s and Peep-o-day lane throughout the month. Other records came from Bicester wetlands on the 23^rd and two at Ardley ERF on the 28^th. Woodcock accounted for the majority of the interesting wader records this month with 11 sites recording at least one bird in January. Boarstall recorded the most birds with eight here on the 7^th, with Piddington recording four birds on the 23^rd of the month. All other sites recorded 1 bird except for Otmoor which had at least two birds seen in flight during the day of the 2^nd.

Disappointedly only two sites recorded jack snipe. The first came from Peep-o-day lane on the 1^st of the month with the 2^nd coming from Parsonage moor on the 15^th. Typically both birds were flushed with the latter flushed during habitat works. 

 

Wildfowl

The staple of the winter months for any local patch, January produced plenty of good birds with the odd surprise thrown in for good measure. Aside from the previously mentioned yank duck the highlight for the month came in the form of a pink-footed goose. A quite difficult bird to connect with within the county boundaries with not many birds sticking around longer than the odd day. This bird was picked up on the far northern border of the county and although proved tricky to pin down initially it was seemingly present on and off from the 2^nd until the 22^nd of the month. A pink-footed goose was also recorded in Northants frequently throughout the month and seemingly never reported on the same day as our bird which may explain its long periods of absence. 

The Pink-footed Goose, courtesy of Mike Pollard

The ring-necked duck saga continued in January. An answer to how many of these have been in the county these last couple months was answered when all three birds were recorded on the 1^st of January. This means at least two females and a single drake have been present for at least several months. All three birds were recorded sporadically throughout the month with the Standlake pair recorded at various sites within the vast lake complex present in the area.

The Standlake pair of Ring-necked Duck courtesy of David Hastings

The surprise of the month goes to Moreton golf course which produced a wonderful female common scoter on the evening of the 17^th. Luckily for local patch birders this sea duck remained for two more days before departing to pastures more suitable. A garganey reported on the 19^th at Port Meadow was not confirmed but would continue the run of recent winter records. 

The Common Scoter courtesy of Clair Nuttall

 

The wintering female scaup continued at Farmoor through January and was reportedly joined by a drake on the 25^th but this wasn’t confirmed, whilst a drake was recorded at Henley GP’s on the 29^th. White-fronted goose were reported from Port Meadow on the 6^th and 7^th whilst a pair were also seen at Standlake on the 8^th, seemingly all related to feral birds that come from Blenheim. Goosander were reported from just 6 sites this month. The best count came from Port Meadow when 11 were recorded on the 14^th with at least another 10 sites recorded at least two birds throughout the month. 

 

The Farmoor Scaup courtesy of Bryan Manston

Goldeneye were recorded at four sites this month – Farmoor, Henley GP’s, Dix pit and Pit 60 whilst shelduck were recorded at two sites with between 1-5 birds frequenting Port Meadow throughout the month with probably 3 of the same birds at Standlake on the 23^rd. A single pair of Mandarin were noted from the flooded fields along the Thames in Sutton Courtenay on the 16^th of the month. 

 

Herons, Egrets Etc

As with last month the only species of note was frequent records of great white egret with no records this month of cattle egret. 8 sites recorded at least one bird with a minimum of 5 birds present within the county this month, with a high count of 4 was recorded at Blenheim on the 27^th. With most sites recording birds coming from the west of the county, presumably most records related to the same birds commuting between sites. 

Great White Egret at Blenheim, courtesy of Gareth Cashburn

 

Gulls

Grimsbury reservoir’s local patchwork challenge got off to a flyer when a single kittiwake flew through on the 2^nd , and as is typical with this species it did not linger. Caspian gull records continued to trickle in from a few locations within the county through January. Several adults were noted this month with 2 at Rushey Lock on the 5^th, one at Cote on the 9^th, Port Meadow on the 16^th and Appleford GP’s on the 25^th. Port Meadow hosted at least 3 different birds this month with a 2^nd winter, 3^rd winter and the already mentioned adult. Port Meadow also hosted the only Mediterranean gull this month with an adult on the 13^th.  

Adult Caspian Gull at Appleford, courtesy of Ian Lewington

 

 

Passerines

The highlight for the period came in the form of the long staying yellow-browed warbler at Donnington bridge in Oxford. Initially picked up on the 29^th December the bird remained until the 18^th January. The bird became progressively more showy over the course of the month affording some fantastic viewing opportunities of a species that can often be elusive. The individual performed well most days it was present, often observed feeding in amongst the leaf litter or feeding in alder branches overhanging the mid-morning Oxford rush hour traffic. Another bird was reported from Abingdon STW on the 20^th but despite a day long search the bird was not relocated. 

Yellow-browed Warbler, courtesy of Ewan Urquhart

 

The sewage treatment works at Abingdon did provide something of an eastern persuasion during January though. At least one Siberian chiffchaff was heard calling finally after having probably been present since the earlier part of the month. A huge count of 48 chiffchaff here on the 25^th showed the value of these sites for the birds that winter here. Firecrest were recorded at three sites this month with two of these coming from the city of Oxford in the form of Lye valley and Aston eyot, incidentally both of which are Patchwork challenge patches. The other record came from Wantage on the 2^nd January. Disappointedly only one record of hawfinch came this month with a single flyover bird from Woodstock on the 25^th. 

 

Raptors

A good month for records of hen harrier this month with three birds reported from across the county. After a bit of a disappearance the previous month the ringtail hen harrier popped up again at Otmoor on the 1^st of the month, although it subsequently dropped off the radar again as no reports came again later in January. A male was seen over on the Oxfordshire downs over at Sparsholt on the 15^th whilst another ringtail was picked up over at Childrey field on the 28^th.

Merlin were recorded at six locations with all being new locations from the previous months with birds seemingly moving around the county. Drayton at Banbury (6^th), Woodstock (13^th- 19^th), Lambourn (13^th), Thame (16^th), South Leigh (23^rd) and Childrey field (28^th) all recorded single immature or female birds. Short-eared owl were recorded from two locations both of which came from the Oxfordshire downs with Churn on the 2^nd and 2 reported from Letcombe Basset on the 15^th. 

Eynsham Starling murmuration.

 

Debbie Cowee took this fabulous video of the Eynsham Starling murmuration last month.
Such a wonderful event to witness especially away from Otmoor.

Video courtesy of Debbie Cowee.

Birding By Public Transport.

Steve Heath has written and compiled a brilliant & concise piece, which includes all of the times,
routes & details needed to traverse the counties top birding sites by public transport.
It's a fabulous resource and will be a permanent link at the top of the blog.   

Patchwork Challenge

As I mentioned in the last review of 2022 some of us decided to continue in a similar vein in 2023 with a greater focus on local birding and more specifically on our local patches. This was helped and motivated by the revival of the patchwork challenge set up for this exact kind of birding, with patches across the country (and now even in the Netherlands and Belgium ) compared with one another in a friendly and competitive way. With a few of us in the county taking part a small Oxfordshire mini-league was born and I thought it might be of interest to the wider community how these local birding endeavours are going.

Patch	Birder	Points	Species	Target points	Percent of target	Highlights
Aston eyot	Ben Sheldon	58	56	90	64	Firecrest/Tufted duck
Blenheim	Gareth Casburn	87	79	100	87
Dix pit	Simon Bradfield	69	63	75	92
Grimsbury reservoir	Gareth Blockley	78	72	130	60	Kittiwake
Lye valley	Tom Bedford	59	56	80	74	Firecrest/Goosander
River Thames	Geoff Wyatt	87	79	122	71
Sutton Courtenay	Conor MacKenzie	94	84	140	67	Siberian chiffchaff/Ring necked duck/Pintail

 The beauty of this challenge is that it’s all about context within your own local area and you’re really only competing against yourself. Nothing quite beats the buzz of finding something rare for your patch or even better a patch first, no matter how common it may be somewhere else. Some of the patch gold unearthed so far includes a flyover pair of goosander over the Lye Valley, a lone tufted duck on Aston eyot or a pair of pintail on my own local patch of Sutton Courtenay. This renewed effort with the added incentive of mild competition has meant at least 3 of the birders have had their best January ever on their respective patches. With spring yet to come the hope is that plenty more patch gold is yet to be found and I will try my best provide updates in these monthly reviews on the fortunes of the Oxon participants in this competition over the coming months. I have noticed there are a few more people from Oxfordshire participating in the patchwork challenge that I have not included in the above, if your taking part and want to also be included in the mini league do give me a shout on social media or via the WhatsApp group.  For context some maps of the local patches are included below.

 

Lye Valley

Days Lock

Aston Eyot

Conor Mackenzie.