I thought I would make a concerted effort this year to get my end of year done in reasonable time rather than leaving it until mid January. In traditional fashion for me, it's broken down into Patch, County and National birding with an interlude for non-birds. Each section will have a much coveted Bird of the Year Award which I know my readers will be dying to find out about! So, all in all, it's been a very good year with two of the three sections having a very solid year. So, without further ado, let's kick things off.
Port Meadow Birding
This was the one section which has a poor year. The unseasonal weather meant that the flood waters, that are so vital to the patch birding, dried up in mid April, thereby depriving us of many vital wader ticks that we could usually rely on. Also there were no stand-out rarities at all, just a suite of "good patch birds". So things like Marsh Harrier, Crossbill, Siberian Chiffchaff, Woodcock, both Partridges (sadly both untwitchable) and multiple Tree Pipits were all seen. These are all great "padder" birds and good birds to have on the patch but sadly, that one star bird that would have made the year, was never seen. This combined with a certain phasing on my part as far as the patch is concerned has left the Patch birding scene a bit in the doldrums this year. To reflect that, the Patch Bird of the Year award is going to be left unawarded this year, a sad testament to a more humdrum year.
County Birding
Constrast this with the Oxfordshire birding year which has been stellar. This was due in no small part to the phenominal bird finding efforts of Jeremy Dexter who single handedly found the vast majorty of the top county birds this year.
It all kicked off in late May when a visiting birder claimed a Savi's Warbler in the Otmoor reedbed. Initial scepticism was soon quashed when early county birders confirmed the ID. This was a county tick for everyone and a mass twitch ensued.
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| Savi's Warbler courtesy of Ian Lewington |
The next county gem was a Marsh Sandpiper, found by JD at Pit 60 in Standlake. News didn't break until after dark so it was a dawn twitch for many county birders who had missed the only other one back in the day in Abingdon.
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| Marsh Sandpiper courtesy of Thomas Miller |
The JD finding machine stepped up another gear with an amazing Bluethroat at the second screen at Otmoor at the start of October. Yet another county first for everyone, this was totally left field. Fortunately it hung around for a while so many people connected.
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| Bluethroat courtesy of Richard Stevens |
There was one more county tick for me this year when JD found a pair of Twite at Farmoor one blustery and rainy afternoon. Pandemonium ensued as people tried to get to the birds. I managed it and finally got back a county blocker of many years.
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| Farmoor Twite courtesy of Jeremy Dexter |
There was also a lovely supporting case of good birds with Slavonian Grebe, Scaup, Temminck's Stint, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Bean Goose and Common Scoter. Combined with some other county birds that I didn't see such as Red-footed Falcon, Pectoral Sandpiper, Honey Buzzard and Manx Shearwater it was by any measure a great birding year in the county.
My personal Oxon Bird of the Year is a tricky one because I am rather spoilt for choice. Any of my four county ticks could legitimately claim the prize. The Marsh Sandpiper and Twite had prior county history and I guess a Savi's Warbler at Otmoor isn't altogether left field. However, a Bluethroat at Otmoor would never have been on my bingo card so it has to go to that.
Finally for the county section, here is the traditional Gnome Oxon Birding Review for 2025. Expect the usual frenetic sound track and high octanse bird photos!
Other Stuff Interlude
These days, other stuff consists of the two O's: Orchids and Odonata so very much confined to the summer months. On the Orchid front I finally managed a genuine Pugsley's Marsh Orchid as part of the summer Uni Run.
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| Pugsley's Marsh Orchid on Anglesey |
There was also a trip to deepest, darkest Suffolk to see a Greek Plowshare Tongue Orchid that had turned up in a wildflower meadow at a vineyard.
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| Greek Plowshare Tongue Orchid |
The only Odonata action this year was to twitch a Norfolk Hawker that had been found at Blenheim. This species is normally confined to East Anglia but I guess it must be expanding its range as one was seen at Otmoor last year and this as well.
National Birding
My national birding trips are an important part of my enjoyment of this hobby and this year was a good year. With five BOU approved ticks and 3 Gnome Ticks it was certainly better than my usual efforts.
It all started back in February with a weekend away to see the Marazion Booted Eagle. After giving me the runaround for a couple of days, I finally connected on the morning of my departure.
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| In the end I got great views of the Booted Eagle |
In the spring was a trip to Slimbridge, finally to see the regular summer visiting Bluethroat. This was a "White-spotted" subspecies tick for me as hitherto I'd only seen a first winter "Bluethroat species".
Then followed, the first of two birding trips to Suffolk, firstly for the immature Black Stork which showed ridiculously well.
Then it was back to Suffolk for the Zitting Cisticola which I struggled fully to appreciate due to hearing and binocular difficulties.
The discovery of a Grackle down in Hants made for a nice easy twitch. The ID kept changing but DNA analysis has now confirmed it as Great-tailed Grackle.
December punched above its weight with two trips. Firstly I had a fun weekend chasing the Lesser Crested Tern around the Exe Estuary in a howling gale. With a Cirl Bunting bonus it made for a great weekend away.
Secondly, an early evening twitch to a Swansea Park gave me a lovely Scop's Owl sighting and sweet revenge for dipping one back in 2017.
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| The Swansea Scop's Owl |
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