Greenham Common & Balscote Quarry :: 01 - 02 May 2022

Charlotte wanted to visit her aunt in the Royal Berkshire hospital in Reading but once complete we decided to go for a walk around Greenham Common - sort of on the way home! - it wasn't the best day and there was intermittent drizzle. We parked up at the control tower car park and set out in an anti-clockwise rotation. We were surprised at how quiet it was (from a birding perspective) and really only had linnet, other finches, tits etc until we got to the far (west) end. There we started to see stonechat but from the path always distant.

Chiffchaff called, as did willow warbler. They didn't really show well enough for photos, but I took some anyway - nothing to stand out. We stopped to look at another rather splendid male stonechat when a pale - grey - meadow pipit dropped into the scrub in front of us. It immediately went to ground as dogs off the lead passed the edge of the scrub, soon followed by the owner. Off in the trees behind a garden warbler sang and sat enough in the open to snap - such an icon of of spring. A single wheatear showed on top of a gorse bush but again was flushed by passing dog walkers.

I had a moment of hope as a bird rose singing, with a different voice to skylark. Reviewing the distant photos with friends I'd found a woodlark! The drizzle got heavier and more persistent, and we rushed on picking up only a green woodpecker. It was a nice walk, cut short by the rain and I left a bit disappointed that I hadn't seen Dartford warblers or seen/heard nightingale - maybe too much activity on a bank holiday weekend, and with rain to boot.

I didn't rush to get up on the bank holiday Monday but by 8.00am I'd seen that a bar-tailed godwit had dropped into Grimsbury Reservoir. I thought that it would be unlikely to stay long due to disturbance from walkers, dog walkers and fishermen. Sure enough, by 8.27am it was flushed by a fisherman and left west. Photos by John-Friendship Taylor and Dave South did justice to a stunning bird - must say I was a little jealous and started wishing I'd tried - Nick Truby had and arrived a few minutes after the bird had departed - I think I would have been in the same position.

At 9.35am news broke that the barwit had appeared at Balscote Quarry and was feeding on the far shore. I was scheduled to be packing ready to head for Stansted Airport for a business trip early on Tuesday morning. Damn, I couldn't resist it and I quickly visited to add this to the species seen in the Banbury Ornithological Society survey square. I arrived to find Steve Holliday and Mike Prentice in position - I joined them and attempted to take some photos down in the base of the bowl and on the far side of the water. Edwin Barson turned up and tried to do the same. Watching the bowl we added two yellow wagtails, three LRPs before the lapwing decided to have a go at the barwit - it evaded easily and despite being given the opportunity it decided not to depart but just relocate.

Sandra and Adrian Bletchly arrived (having been just too late at Grimsbury Reservoir). We had a very pleasant chat, but I really did have to go and pack. While I was away Balscote Quarry enjoyed a few visitors with both whimbrel and wood sandpiper. This work thing really does get in the way.

Bicester Wetlands Reserve :: 30 April 2022

It had been a busy week at work and I'd not been able to pop out to see any of the arriving migrants. Saturday morning arrived and I decided to make for Bicester Wetlands (keyholder reserve) as there had been sightings of grasshopper warbler and whinchat. Although I'd seen a gropper at RSPB Otmoor, it had been difficult to photograph whereas the one at BWR one had been posing on a post.

I arrived just after sunrise with the temperature at 2°C and frost covering the grass. I made straight for the cattle bridge pool hoping to see the whinchat - despite a thorough search it could not be located. I went back to where the gropper had been showing and settled in - for about half an hour there were only the calls from sedge warblers, common whitethroat and assorted tits and finches. Then a brief reel and the gropper was to be found perched in the base of the brambles - sitting in the clear and possible to photograph. I hoped it would perch on a post as it had done for others but when it took to the wing it flew off across the meadow and into the bushes along the railway line. I thought about following but decided that it would be back soon - I was right and when it returned it landed not in any scrub but directly on a post. It paused there for at least a minute before popping onto one a little closer (!) and started to reel - heaven. I rattled off a few photos and then raised my bins to get a really close look. All too soon the bird dropped out of view and into the ditch behind. Instead of returning to the bushes and posts I saw it relocate to the trees behind. I wouldn't see or hear the bird again - later I was informed that there had actually been three individuals reported.

I went in search of the whinchat again but could never locate it - perhaps it had decided to move on ...

There were more sedge warblers and whitethroats plus numbers of linnet. Several swallows flew through. After several hours of enjoying the birds on view I started back to the car. In the distance I noticed some hirundines in the sky over the water treatment works - there was a single swift, my first of the year. When I reached the car park I could see numbers growing and there were two sand martins, two house martins, two swifts and numbers of swallows. Two of the regulars arrived, one the reserve warden Allan Peters - I stopped to chat but soon was on my way home for breakfast.

I got home to find an update on the Banbury Birders WhatsApp saying that Mike Pollard had seen a whinchat at Top Dawkins, Wardington at 9.00am. I turned round and left again without breakfast, hoping the bird would still be there. I arrived by around 10.00am and drove slowly along the lane. As I reached the barn I saw the male whinchat on top of the hedge - I stopped at a safe distance, hopped out the car and walked back to see if I could get a photo. My luck was in again and I got several with one a keeper. A great morning - the remainder of the day would prove to be great too as it was Kev's wife's birthday and we had an invite to her bash.

Wyre Forest :: 24 April 2022

I'd started to see photographs of pied flycatchers appearing on social media and thought to get in touch with a chap that lives on the edge of the Wyre Forest to see if the population there has started to return - not only did he reply but he also said that he was going to the forest on Sunday morning if I wanted to join him. He was on - I checked if it was OK for Kev Heath to join and make it a party of three - pied fly would be a lifer for him - it was. In fact, I have only once seen a pied flycatcher (a male) and that was bizarrely at Grimsbury Reservoir of all places. John Friendship-Taylor had found the bird along the river and we all dropped in to see it; I went in my lunch hour without a camera and so have had a four year itch to get a photograph of one. Last spring I had a go for a female that Dylan Parry-Davies located amongst spotted flycatchers at Wormleighton.

We met and made our way to the visitor’s car park and were soon on the main track and listening for anything interesting. In trees overhead there were feeding lesser redpoll, a species I've managed to avoid up to this point and so a welcome tick for the year list. We pressed on and as we reached a favourite spot we stopped as a pied flycatcher called to our right. We stood on the edge of the trees and listened soon spotting both male and female pied flycatchers, chasing one another. What tremendous birds - I took a few photos and had that treasured prize. The photos that follow are the same birds but as we stopped at the spot on our return at the end of the visit.

We pressed on and came to a clearing and slope to our right and spotted a chap setting himself up with a camouflage net and getting into position to photograph the pied flycatchers. We stopped, watched and decided to make our way down to the brook to see if we could find any dippers - one on our target list as Kev doesn't see them most years. As we left the area a male pied flycatcher dropped onto a nearby bush but took to the wing as I got my camera on it, then landed on the path behind us! Again, as I got focus it was off again and into the bushes. I took some more photos and was well happy - Kev could have his dipper now.

We reached the brook and saw a dipper fly towards and then away from us - I wasn't quick enough to get a flight shot. We reached a building with benches outside, and a very friendly robin sat right beside us - people likely feed the birds here and so the sight of people started to draw in a few other birds, mostly tits. Suddenly a marsh tit joined - another bird that has eluded us. We followed it along the brook and managed a few photos as well as some of a beautiful grey wagtail. Along this stretch we had at least three pairs of marsh tit.

From the path running along the edge of the brook we continued to see flying dippers and it wasn't long before we also had great views of one feeding. It was turning into a magical visit for us - probably the same for our host but regular as he lives only 5 minutes away.

Above our heads we could see a nuthatch drop in and call, followed by a second - some pairing going on by the looks. Tricky to photograph due to the direction of the light but good to watch.

Coming up from a mill house we passed an area which was apparently good for tree pipits but couldn't see or hear anything. As we climbed, we could hear a common redstart and spotted one deep in a distant tree - no point in trying to photograph it. Rather than walk through the meadow we rounded it hoping we may encounter the bird at the other end - we didn't but could hear one call ahead - stopping we soon found it in the tree canopy. As we scanned around a tree pipit dropped into the tree to our right - a lifer for Kev and I. The redstart then treated us with views at eye level, although mostly against the sun - OK for viewing with bins but not so clever for photography.

We heard tawny owl calling but the call of a wood warbler evaded us. What a magical place. I'm sure it will only be a few weeks until we return and see if we can find our missing target bird and perhaps get a photo of a tree pipit.

Summer Leys :: 23 April 2022

A whimbrel was reported at Summer Leys on Friday and so that is where Kevin Heath and I set out for on Saturday morning, picking up breakfast on the way and checking out Hardwater Lake before parking up at Summer Leys. We had willow warbler singing as we put on our walking boots and made for the Pioneer Hide - common terns (up to fourteen in a single party) fished and a single swallow flew across the far bank. With no sign of the whimbrel, we moved on as it had been seen a further round the reserve finding a rather colourful but distant bar-tailed godwit, a drake pintail, common snipe and handfuls of redshank. We checked out the double decker hide but didn't have anything new other than a great white egret, so kept on the move.

Chiffchaff and willow warbler called from the treetops, and we added our first garden warbler of the year having managed to pick it out amongst numbers of blackcap. We still couldn't locate a whimbrel and by the time we reached the feeders we were lucky to watch two Egyptian geese drop in.

Through the gate and along the old railway line we added song thrushes, sedge warbler but very few whitethroat. Our species count though was starting to build. A chap was standing watching rocks where a mink had retreated - we joined him briefly but decided to move on but stopped when Kev picked out a kingfisher and noted an egret over towards Great Doddington – through the bins I could see one cattle egret in a field north of River Nene, opposite the sand martin wall, which then flew east along the river.

We were happy with the find and to have been able to watch the bird on the wing - looking back to the main lake we saw a pair of ruff. Unfortunately, we weren't in the best place for a photo but had great views through our bins and scope - a couple of other birders stopped to join us. A few tens of metres on we stopped again to identify some small birds that had landed on a point protruding out into the water: two sanderling and a dunlin. We tried to take photos through the scope and with my camera, hoping we would be able to extract something as they were all distant. As we watched a single little ringed plover joined.

We had further views of great white egret but no additions to our 58 species for the morning. We stopped at the Visitor Centre and bought a coffee and stopped to chat with the staff manning it.

Stanwick & Hardwater Lakes :: 18 April 2022

We had planned to go a walk and I'd convinced Charlotte that a trip to Stanwick Lakes would be something different - there was also a long staying glossy ibis to be seen! We didn't rush and by mid-morning Charlotte started to prepare a packed lunch. Unfortunately as she opened the baguettes she cut her finger, right in the crease - it was bad enough to make a short trip to A&E just to make sure it didn't need stitches and to get it dressed. She didn't feel like going for a walk after that.

As mid-afternoon approached Charlotte said she was feeling tired and was going for a lie down and so I jumped in the car and made a dash for Stanwick, parking in the A45 layby. A quick walk to the Treetop hide and I started to scan the area in front of me - it took about 5 minutes but eventually the glossy ibis gave itself up - a year tick. It fed to the left and then across the front of the nearest water, briefly flying to the right.

I checked out the other birds but there was nothing else of note. I made my way back to the car and set off in the direction of home. I had been efficient in my use of time and there was now the possibility of a small detour to see the bar-tailed godwits showing on Hardwater Lake - just opposite the Summer Leys reserve, and only a couple of miles out of the way. Again, I parked up in a layby and walked along the verge to the gate overlooking the water. Immediately I could see one then two bar-tailed godwits - another year tick. Something spooked the barwits and other birds and they all took to the wing but circled and soon were back in place. A grey wagtail, little ringed plover and oystercatchers all showed as well as they could from this distance.

I was soon back on the road and home before three hours was up. Charlotte felt a bit better and hopefully will get to enjoy her second week of the school holidays.