Once again it's taken until towards the end of January for me to get around to doing my end of year review - pretty much par for the course then. This is largely down to the fact that I'm still (mercifully) gainfully employed in these dark days so am not the man of leisure that I used to be. This time last year I was still working in London and Regents Park was my local patch. How things have changed since then and whilst I don't have the freedom to go and twitch things at the drop of a hat these days it's wonderful to be able to bird locally again.
These annual reviews are, I know, a bit of a blogging cliché these days but the truth is that I personally enjoy looking back on my past birding exploits and given how curtailed they presently are thanks to the lockdown, it's no bad thing to be given the chance to reminisce on what was such a strange year. So with out further ado, here it is in the usual multi part format.
Patch Birding
I have already done a comprehensive year review of my Port Meadow patch here so below is an executive summary. Winter was all about Caspian Gulls with a nice long-staying Barn Owl also thrown in for good measure.
Thanks to Lockdown 1.0 starting at the beginning of the spring passage Port Meadow suddenly acquired a whole lot more patch workers: lots of Oxford locals adopted it as their exercise location and with all these extra eyes a lot more was found than usual. There were brief views of an Osprey, a Common Crane, a fly-over Tree Pipit, a calling Whimbrel and a Common Redstart that were all nice additions to the year list but not twitchable. Longer staying (or at least twitchable) were Grey Plover, Black Tern (a Patch Mega), Avocet, a breeding plumage Great White Egret, Wood Sandpiper and a Ring Ouzel (also a Patch Mega).
 |
| Breeding plumage Great White Egret |
 |
| Skulking Ring Ouzel |
Summer was all about insects and on the Odonata front a Downy Emerald and a county first micro moth were the stars. As we headed into autumn we got in on the county colonisation by Willow Emeralds and soon became the top county spot with at least six individuals seen all around the main pond. We have high hopes of this being the start of a new colony.
 |
| Mating Willow Emerals courtesy of Nicola Devine |
Autumn brought a lingering Common Redstart and a Spotted Flycatcher as well as a Patch first Cattgle Egret and a Patch Mega (only the second record) Glossy Ibis. We also had a Whooper Swan, a lingering female Garganey .
 |
| Cattle Egret courtesy of Andrew Siantonas |
Winter was back to Caspian Gulls again with a bonus of some fly-over Hawfinches (Patch First)
By all measures it was a vintage year. The year list record was broken with a total of 135 and personally I had five Patch ticks: Common Crane, Black Tern, Ring Ouzel, Cattle Egret and Hawfinch. The Port Meadow bird of the year was the Ring Ouzel.
County Birding
County birding tends to go very much in fits and starts. Some years are a real struggle to see much at all of interest in the county with no possibility of a county tick, yet other years there's lots about. Fortunately, this was one of the latter. I personally had two full county ticks, a heard-only tick, a non BOU tick and a Gnome-only tick
It all kicked off in the spring when news broke of a Red-footed Falcon in a site with no general access somewhere to the north of the county. Birders being birders, a way was soon worked out to get to see the bird and so this long-standing county blocker finally fell for myself and a whole lot of other county listers.
 |
| The Red-footed Falcon |
A mere week later a Hoopoe was found near Adderbury coming to a front lawn in a side street. It would often go missing for quite some time but I was lucky enough to see it within a few minutes of finally being able to go and see it after work ended. This bird is almost annually recorded in the county but usually as post factum records sent into the county recorder long after they're gone and there hasn't been a twitchable one in the county since I've been birding here.
 |
| The Hoopoe |
There was a nice summer interlude when a very handsome adult Rose-coloured Starling turned up in East Challow. I chose to try for it one evening where, after a bit of a hunt it showed well enough.
 |
| Rose-coloured Starling |
In late summer a flock of no less than 9 Ruddy Shelduck turned up on the partially drained lake in Blenheim Palace in Woodstock. Now, of course Ruddy Shelduck is usually regarded as an escape when they turn up in ones or twos. After all, because of their striking looks they are a commonly kept species and most are regarded as "fence hoppers". However a flock of nine is a different matter. There are self sustaining (so Cat. C) feral populations on the continent which disperse at this time of year and this flock is almost certainly part of that process. So whilst the BOU won't consider it, to my mind it's a definite county (and also national) tick and as I don't really adhere to BOU, I'm happy to count it on my personal county list.
 |
| Some of the nine Ruddy Shelduck |
In the autumn RW found an extremely elusive Dartford Warbler in a rather unassuming location along the Thames near Tadpole Bridge. Now, as I'd been away when the last twitchable bird turned up at Otmoor this was still something I needed for the county. I visited on a very windy Saturday afternoon where despite putting in a good couple of hours the best I could manage was a single distant call which sounded very much like the bird in question. The next day I went back late morning where in completely calm conditions I once again failed to see the bird but once again I heard it call - this time much closer and very dinstinctly. With TW reporting that he'd seen it that morning as well to confirm that it was still around I have put it down on my county list as "heard only". This will have to do until another twitchable one turns up and I can actually get to see it.
Many of my other good county sightings this year I've already mentioned in the Patch Birding section but there is one more to report which is when I went to Letcombe Regis to see the release scheme Great Bustard. Not in any way tickable by strict BOU standards, however, as the off-spring of a released bird it is first generation born and raised in this country. Just how many generations you need for them to be considered tickable I don't know but in the world of Gnome listing (about which I will blog more at some point) this counts somewhere in the many different categories that I have. In any event it was a strikingly handsome bird to see.
National Birding
As you would expect during the on-off lockdown restrictions of last year this was very much curtailed. In fact in total there were just two out of county twitches, two Durham runs, two funeral trips and a Cornwall summer holiday in total.
Things were very quiet at the start of the year (back in the Before Time when I was working in London) with a trip up north for a funeral of my old business partner where I managed to see a Siberian Stonechat by way of light relief from the sadness of the occasion.
Because of Lockdown 1.0 it wasn't until July that I made my first actual twitch of the year up to the banks of the River Humber to see an unusually confiding Blyth's Reed Warbler that set up territory in a small patch of reeds. An opportunity like this to see what is normally a very secretive bird was too good an opportunity to miss and indeed it showed very well.
 |
| Far Ing Blyth's Reed Warbler |
My next national trip was to take my eldest daughter back up to Durham. On the way back I took the opportunity to go and see the French release scheme Lammergeier that had made the Derbyshire Peak District its home for the summer. With a bonus Red-backed Shrike on the way home it was a rewarding trip.
 |
| Red-backed Shrike |
What was definitely my national birding trip of the year was when I uncharacteristically dropped everything to go and see the Rufous Bush Chat in Norfolk. It was a very memberable weekend with Red-flanked Bluetail, Twite and Pallas's Warbler all thrown in as well. After such a difficult year it was wondering just to be able to get out and to see some great birds.
The Rufous Bush Chat
 |
| The lovely Pallas' Warbler, which showed very well |
After that, nationally there was just one more trip to get daughter number 1 back from Durham before the next "Christmas" Lockdown. With little of note up in the area I elected for the long staying Lesser Yellowlegs and a Snow Bunting in picturesque scenery by way of birding entertainment.
The national bird of the year has to be the Rufous Bush Chat, not only for it's Mega (last seen 40 years ago) rarity but also for the joy of seeing some decent birds finally.
Summary
So that was my birding year last year. Given how restricted things often were it actually wasn't too bad. This year has started off with yet more restrictions so it remains to be seen just how it all pans out. To put things in perspective, just to have survived last year at all should probably count as a result and something to be thankful for. Let's hope this terrible pandemic is resolved speedily and safely.
