I have six different Oxon birding trips to write about here in what has been an amazing purple patch of spring county birding. I had been thinking that nationally it has been a bit quiet with just one sortie so far this year for the White-crowned Sparrow. So it's been great that the local scene has been more than making up for things.
1. Spotted Crake & Night Heron Overture
It all started a few weeks ago on the 29th April when a Spotted Crake was heard singing at Otmoor on Greenaways - the main field along the bridleway that runs east to west across the RSPB reserve. With my VLW and our two daughters away on a grand tour of asia I currently have lots of time on my hands. So I was thinking an evening stroll to Otmoor to take in all the sights and sounds of springtime would be a very pleasant way to pass the time.
As it happened, this day coincided with a Big Day attempt by bike by BS and TM so they rocked up at Otmoor that evening, completely exhausted, to tick off the Spotted Crake at the end of their day. The Crake duly obliged by singing away as usual. I recorded it on my H4n Pro field recorder.
There is a side story to this evening which is where it gets interesting. TM was cycling back along the turnoff to the first screen when he thought he saw what looked like a Night Heron through the gap in the hedge. He stopped at the next gap in the hedge but couldn't see it. Given it was twighlight and he was exhausted he it dismissed it from his mind. In fact he only told me all this a couple of days later (see the next section). Back at the Crake listening spot I was chatting away to the two of them while we listened to all the sounds around us. It's a magical time of year with Snipe drumming, reeling Grasshopper Warblers, in fact all the warblers warbling away, Cuckoos were calling and Cranes were trumpeting. It truly was a wonderful soundscape.
Suddenly we heard a strange call.
"What's that" I asked
It called again.
"It's flying to the right" said TM
It called a total of four times and then that was it. For the combined collective experience of the three of us not to know the call must mean that it's something more unusual. Still with nothing to go and the excitment of the Big Day to dissect, we rather forgot about it.
2. Night Heron Vigil
The above conversation ws rather thrown into sharp focus a couple of days later when legendary county rare finder JD took a photo of a small heron flying over the reedbed at Otmoor. To his amazement it turned out to be a Night Heron.
 |
| The Night Heron, courtesy of Jeremy Dexter |
When the photos were posted on-line, naturally I thought to look up Night Heron call. Crickey, if that didn't sound exactly like what we had heard! I messaged TM and BS. Ben admitted to being too tired to remember what he'd heard but TM agreed that it did sound spot on. BS did say that we might find someone who had inadvertently picked it up on their Spotted Crake audio recording though so far nothing has been forthcoming.
That evening the good and the great of the county assembled at the reedbed of Otmoor to see if the Night Heron would put in another appearance. We passed a pleasant evening chatting and watching the Hobbies, Cranes and Marsh Harriers fly around and listening to the Bitterns booming. Sadly there was no repeat appearance of the Night Heron.
 |
| The Oxon great and the good wating for the Night Heron, courtesy of Tom Bedford |
I did get a stern lecture from one of the county birding seniors who told me I couldn't put Night Heron on my list on the basis of what I'd heard two nights ago. He went on to tell me how one time at dusk he had seen a small Heron in silhouette which had almost certainly been a Night Heron but he hadn't counted it. Therefore I shouldn't count my heard-only either!
In terms of whether I'm counting it or not, I've had a chat with TM. It wouldn't look good if only one of us counted it and he is a bit more conservative than me so for now it's not on my official published county list. However, I do keep a personal list which has various additions. By way of digression (but who doesn't love to chat about lists), I feel that the official record keeping bodies in the UK do a lamentable job. So my additions to my official list are:
Ruddy Shelduck: the flock of 9 birds at Blenheim was clearly part of the feral continental Cat C flock
Snow Goose: the Farmoor birds are self sustaining in my book as they've been around for years
Falcated Teal: the Farmoor bird was the wariest bird there and was part of an influx of carrier Mallard.
Red-breasted Goose: the two Otmoor birds, they were part of a general goose influx with appropriate carrier species
Great Bustard: a bit more controversial perhaps but at some point you've got to start counting release scheme birds and if you can't tell how many generations in it is, then you might as well start counting them immediately.
So the Night Heron has gone onto my private list as a worthy heard-only addition.
3. Otmoor Black-winged Stilt
I rarely go to Otmoor. In fact I can pass whole birding years without visiting the reserve but I went for a third time in as many weeks when a Black-winged Stilt turned up there. This was not a county bird that I needed having seen one at Pit 60 back in April 2012 but they are always such good looking birds that it would be rude not to try for it. The only trouble was I only had a small window to see it between client therapy appointments. Still it seemed to be settled on Big Otmoor having returned after initially being seen for one evening only a few days prior. It had spent much of the morning there so it had to be worth a shot. Sadly I arrived to find everyone marching contentedly back along the bridleway which is never a good sign.
At the Stilt location there was no sign of it. I didn't have too long free so frantically searched for it. A cryptic message came through on the county WhatsApp about it at the north end of "the scrape". Which scape? Big Otmoor is full of them! Anyway, I was saved at the eleventh hour by PL who called me to say that he had it further west towards Noke. I just had time to rush over there, take a terrible record shot and then head off home. Still it was nice to have seen another Black-winged Stilt in the county. I guess they are only going to get commoner as climate change continues.
 |
| A rubbish record shot of the Stilt |
Some video footage courtesy of Badger
 |
| A great photo of the bird by Pete Milligan |
4. Temminck's Stint
The Port Meadow regulars have been speculating about Temminck's Stint turning up on the Meadow in May. Sadly it wasn't to be (so far at least) but one did turn up one evening at Farmoor along the causeway. Again with nothing to do after dinner in the absence of my VLW I headed out to have a look. And very nice it was too! It's been a few years since I've seen one and this one gave excellent views. It was remarkable how birdless Farmoor was. Apart from the Stint on the causeway there was virtually nothing there. Sad times!
The Temminck's Stint was very obliging when being filmed
5. Montague's Harrier
The same evening as the Temminck's Stint had turned up, the Otmoor warden had seen a "probable" Montague's Harrier fly over the reedbed at Otmoor. Many of us had been around long enough to have seen Monty's when they bred in the county (sadly no longer). What had county listers nervous though was the possbility of it being a Pallid Harrier instead. I really didn't fancy spending hours on Otmoor on the off chance of it flying through again so I was really hoping it was going to be a Monty's
The next morning it flew through Greenaways again, giving some great views and some great photos for those there. This confirmed it as a first summer Monty's so there was no need to panic. Still I found myself with a couple of hours spare between client therapy sessions so I decided to have a wander down there (a fourth visit to Otmoor this year already!!). There I passed a couple of pleasant hours not seeing much of anything and certainly not seeing a Monty's but enjoying watching the Hobbies fly about in the sunshine. It wasn't seen again that day.
 |
| A great photo of the Monty's courtesy of Joe Downing |
6. Golden Oriole
I was just getting back to the car at Otmoor when MC posting an amazing video of a Golden Oriole singing out of sight in the middle of nowhere near Witney.
Singing Golden Oriole courtesy of Mick Cunningham
He'd just stopped to relieve himself by the roadside and happened to have stumbled on a singing Oriole - what are the chances!!?? This put me in a bit of a dilemma. I'd already been out birding today and I had a client session this afternoon which often went on for a long time for this client. I also had a meal to cook this evening which was going to take a bit of time. I could cancel my client session but the Oriole seemed a bit vague and uncertain. After some deliberation I decided not to rush off to Witney. In the end it turned out that had I gone I would have heard the bird (which sang regularly) and would have got a brief flight view. Gah! That was birding though. However, access was very limited and had subsequently been withdrawn altogether so it was a difficult call whether still to try for it or not.
After thinking about it, I decided to postpone my more elaborate meal plan and just to serve up some pizza instead for my son and I. After dinner I would head down to see if I could at least hear it which would be a heard-only county tick for me. After all, for a Golden Oriole, that was probably the best that one could reasonably hope for anyway. I duly turned up at a little after 7pm, parked on the verge with a few other cars and then walked a couple of hundred yards down the road to where four other county birders were. It turned out that there had been no sight nor sound of it since about 4:30 pm so it wasn't looking good. Still it was a nice evening and we all started chatting about birding matters. It was no more than five minutes since I'd arrived however when we heard the distinctive flutey call of the Golden Oriole singing a few hundred yards away but on the opposite side of the road from where we were expecting it. I'd actually got to hear it! I couldn't believe my luck!
We all hurried back up the road near to where I had parked. Here there was a gap in the hedge were we could stand in the edge of the field and listen. It was singing nearly continuously and we managed to narrow it down to a lone Oak tree on the opposite side of the field. So we had all heard it and with it pinned down in the tree there was a chance we would get a flight view at some point. We all listened and enjoyed the singing Oriole as a few more birders turned up. Only SNT had his scope out. The rest of us thought it was a thankless task to try and see an Oriole in the tree at that distance - after all they are skulky bastards at the best of times. Suddenly SNT announced that he had it in the tree! Holy crap! Sure enough as he let each of us view it through his scope, there it was. I hurried back to the car and retrieved my scope. Fortunately the bird seemed settled in the one location and I was soon able to get on it and take some video footage.
Actual video footage of an Oxon Golden Oriole! Who would have thought it?
It spent quite some time just sitting there and singing, in fact "porning it" by Golden Oriole standards! Eventually it got a bit restless and moved from its spot. Then it suddenly took flight and flew across the field towards us and back over the road to the trees on the other side. This was our cue to leave and we all headed off, very happy to have got such a great county tick. To be honest, this was one that I didn't think I would ever get so it was amazingly good fortune that it all worked out as well as it did. Also, in hindsight, waiting until after dinner had actually turned out to be the best option.
