October review

Highlights

After the excitement that ensued in September with a handful of county rarities, which included a 2^nd county record, October offered a much slower and steady pace. That being said, with the welcome return of our winter migrants it is difficult to be too disappointed with the birding return. With 10s of thousands of Redwing at coastal headlands on the 8^th October, Oxfordshire got its first deluge the following day with flocks up to 500+ seen across the county. Fieldfare trickled through in amongst the first flocks but then arrived in bigger numbers a week or so later. Our first Brambling of the winter arrived in the 2^nd half of the month with birds in Oxford and at the newly filled feeders at Balscote Quarry. Winter wildfowl numbers began to build at wetland sites whilst wintering raptors like Short-eared Owl arrived to herald in the true start of the winter period.

Meanwhile, a few birds continued to move through the county to keep locals busy and things ticking over, although there was no standout rarity this month with mostly expected birds passing through the county. With October not adding any species to the county list, what will the next couple months bring? Hopefully the year still has another county mega left in it yet!

Waders

A much quieter month after much of the wader action was done and gone during September, with a Grey Plover, the stand out species in October. A single bird heard calling over Cote on the 23^rd was the culmination at a site that had seen much of the wader action in the county this month. A Black-tailed Godwit arrived at Bicester Wetlands on the 10^th and remained there for a few days until at least the 12^th. Seven Dunlin were found earlier at Cote on the 21^st building to 11 the following day and then to a high count of 24 on the 23^rd ,a particularly nice count for late in the season. This flock ebbed and flowed over the next few days reduced to 14 by the 30^th. A decent flock of 12 Ringed Plover on the 21^st was also a bit of a surprise and proved that birds will turn up where decent habitat exists. Additional Dunlin sightings came from Farmoor on the 18^th with a small flock of 3 here. Port Meadow had a single bird on the 28^th building to 4 birds on the 29^th.

Green Sandpiper records came from at least four sites. Bicester Wetand again produced the most records and highest count with 10 here on the 5^th, birds continued through the month with numbers reduced to 7 by the 28^th. Single birds came from Peep-o-Day Lane on the 8^th – 11^th, Cote on the 24^th and Ardley on the 29^th. Only two sites had Common Sandpiper with Farmoor and Chinnor Cement Works hosting birds on the 9^th and 10^th respectively.

Wildfowl, game and crakes

A single female Scaup on Farmoor from the 19^th was the first bird of the winter period and right on cue. Remaining through the month and it would seem likely to remain through the winter hopefully to be joined by others later on as more wildfowl move through and/or return to the county. An unconfirmed report of Garganey at Appleford on the 11^th would not be wholly out of the question given late records in recent years and the most recent sightings of a juvenile nearby at Dorchester-on-Thames. The first returning Goldeneye was logged on the very last day of the month with a lone female on Farmoor on the 31st

The Farmoor Scaup courtesy of Lew

 

 

Goosander came from only two sites with Port Meadow, a regular haunt in the winter, hosting a single bird on the 4^th and 29^th and Ardley ERF also hosted single flyover bird on the 29^th, whilst a lone Shelduck was present on the floods at Cote on the 29^th until the end of the month. Rounding off the small return this month was a large count of Mandarin at Blenheim with a whopping 19 birds here on the 4^th, 16 of which were males.

Herons, egrets etc

The month got off to a great start when a White Stork flew over Kingston Bagpuise on the 1^st before it was tracked by other observers over Standlake and later seen dropping into Chimney Meadows. Surprisingly, despite its size this individual was not seen again. As with the previous sighting this year the assumption is this was one of the birds from the reintroduction project.

Juvenile and adult Cattle Egrets Otmoor rspb Courtesy of Malcolm Bowey.

The post-breeding flock of Cattle Egret continued to move around the county, albeit favouring some areas for periods of time. Eight sites saw sightings with the largest count of 27 coming from Port Meadow on the 15^th,  a site that was favoured for much of the month. Most sightings came from the nearby area with Standlake, Farmoor, Otmoor and Wytham Farm all seeing fluctuating numbers of birds in the month. Outlier sites included a single at Cholsey on the 19^th and also a single at Grimsbury on the 28^th.

Great White Egret came from a total of 7 sites with most sites being regular haunts from the previous several months. A high count of 3 came from Blenheim on the 3^rd with 2 here fairly regularly. New sites included Radley GP’s and Lye Valley which continued its fine form with a single flyover on the 11^th and then 2 over on the 18^th, a fantastic record for this small urban site. 

Otmoor Great White Egret courtesy of Barry Neale

 

 

Gulls and Terns

The easy standout sighting this month came from Fyfield Wick on the 20^th when a flock of 35 Little Gull flew through. Not an unheard of number for say Farmoor on the back of some strong weather but certainly a great number overland through a small Oxon village. Coming off the back of a decent displacement of Little Gull elsewhere in the country a single bird was also observed on Farmoor the next day on the 21^st. 

Farmoor juvenile Common Tern, courtesy of Lew

 

Its now officially Caspian Gull season with birders heading to the nearest gull roost, be that a landfill site, waterbody or a random arable field and patiently picking through the masses of white and grey. Five sites recorded birds this month, with Farmoor the most frequented or at least the most watched with birds here on the 11^th, 21^st and 24^th. Crow Marsh, Cote and Port Meadow all recorded immature birds. Blenheim had an adult present towards the end of the month and was possibly the same returning bird from the previous season. 

 

Caspian Gull at Farmoor, courtesy of Lew

Caspain Gull at Port Meadow courtesy of Steve Lavington

Passerines

The busiest of the groups this month with birds still trickling through the counties borders, albeit in much reduced numbers. The standout birds were a couple of Ring Ouzel records coming from the downs. One was on Linkey Down on the 20^th although didn’t appear to linger very long whilst a stunning male was later at Sparsholt Firs on the 29^th. Rock Pipit returned through the county in the 2^nd week of the month with a single flyover bird heard over Farmoor on the 9^th. Two birds were on the causeway on the 14^th and both remained here for much of the month with sightings on and off between the 14^th and 22^nd. Surprising records came from Fyfield Wick with two birds over calling on the 15^th and then a single record again flying over on the 22^nd. 

Otmoor Whinchat, courtesy of Paul Wyeth

A lone Black Redstart was in the private grounds of Harwell Laboratory on the 24^th, a regular stop over for birds moving through the county with 4 out of the last 5 years seeing birds here. Whinchat continued in the county with a handful of sites recording multiple birds in the early part of the month. Three were at Sarsgrove on the 1^st with two remaining until at least the 3^rd. Otmoor saw a single bird on the 3^rd whilst Kings Lock had the highest count of 5 on the 5^th of the month. Wheatear were similar in numbers and spread around the county, with most birds coming from the downs or higher ground. Sarsgrove had a juvenile present on the 2^nd, joining the Whinchat at this location. Farmoor saw birds present on the 3^rd and again on the 14^th , whilst the Devils Punchbowl had 3 on the 8th with at least one remaining there until the 22^nd with one also at Childrey Field the same day. 

Harwell Black Redstart courtesy of Mark Merrit

 

Raptors

Notable raptor observations picked up this month with the several Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl seen around the county. The first Hen Harrier was noted on the 10^th at Churn and was typically a ring-tail individual and possibly the same bird was seen later at Aston Upthorpe on the 15^th. A cracking male was then seen at Otmoor on the 21^st with some amazing flyby footage taken by the locals there, the bird continued at Otmoor until the following day and hopefully won’t be the last one of the season. 

 

The male Hen Harrier at Otmoor, courtesy of Rob Cadd

Short-eared Owl sightings came initially from the downs with one over the Chilton Downs in the early part of the month until the 8^th, whilst sightings also came from Churn on the 10^th. Multiple birds were then seen further west along the Ridgeway with two at the Devils Punchbowl on the 16^th rising to four later in the month reported from Sparsholt Firs but presumably all hunting the same area. Otmoor also produced records with one flushed on the 11^th and then presumably the same bird seen again on the 24^th. Chipping Norton had a possible bird flushed and seen in brief flight on the 20^th but this remained only as a possible.

Marsh Harrier Cassington GP’s 22/10 courtesy of Terry Godfrey.

Finally, we got our first Osprey of the autumn with a single flyover bird on the 23^rd seen over Grimsbury Reservoir with possibly the same bird seen later over Cotswold Water Park just over the border into Wiltshire. Merlin increased in spread and number with 7 sites producing birds. A male was at Freeland on the 1^st with several sightings of immature/female birds around South Leigh and Ducklington over the following weeks. Otmoor produced one record, as did Grimsbury on the 6^th and 18^th respectively. The downs saw two records of pairs seen together with Childrey Field hosting two females on the 21^st and Lambourn having a male and female present on the 22^nd. 

Otmoor Sparrowhawk, courtesy of Malcolm Bowey

Patchwork challenge

Patch	Birder	Points	Species	Highlight	Target	Percentage of target
Aston eyot	Ben Sheldon	58	56		90	64.44
Blenheim	Gareth Casburn	131	115		100	131.00
Dix pit	Simon Bradfield	114	91		75	152.00
Grimsbury reservoir	Gareth Blockley	118	107		130	90.77
Lye valley	Tom Bedford	97	86		80	121.25
River Thames	Geoff Wyatt	155	132		122	127.05
Sutton courtenay	Conor MacKenzie	152	127		140	108.57
East challow	Mark Merritt	84	80		83	101.20
Freeland	Glen Pascoe	86	78		80	107.50