Sleepless in Norfolk

My last birding trip down to Topsham for the Ross' Gull was also the day that news broke of a male Spectacled Warbler down in Burnham Overy Staithe in Norfolk - apparently only the eight ever for Britain. Now, Norfolk is normally a bit too far for me for twitching, certainly it's well beyond my two hour twitching rule (which seems to have deteriorated into more of a guideline these days) so it has to be something pretty good to tempt me to make what amounts to a seven hour round trip. Anyway, having had a (rather expensive thanks to the car repairs) outing already on the Monday of that week there was no prospect of my making another trip for a while. However, when the bird seemed to be comfortably settled and was seen all that week it did start to get me thinking that I really ought to go and pay homage to it. The following week was difficult however as daughter no. 2 was away for the week on her post-exam work experience (at Twickenham Film Studios) and my VLW had gone with her to keep her company. This left me holding Fort Gnome with our son L to ferry to and from school, not to mention the two teams of builders who were coming and going all week plastering and digging the building site that was once our home. With a party to attend at the weekend it was starting to look like next Monday (exactly two weeks since the bird was originally found) might be the only time that I could make it when fortunately a window of opportunity appeared: both sets of builders were going to be away on Thursday and daughter no. 1 was going to be doing her revision at home that day so she would be able to pick up L from school. Whilst I would have to take him to school this would leave me with enough time to make the trip out to Norfolk. Daughter 1 even volunteered to cook for that evening so I wouldn't have to get back to make the evening meal. So it was all sorted and the night before I put the finishing touches to my plan, checking the route and where to go on site etc. Of course the best laid plans etc... At last light Mark Ribbons and a couple of others up in Banbury found a Phalarope species at Balscote Quarry. Whilst it was too dark for them to identify it, at this time of year it was almost certainly a Red-necked and there seemed to be a quite a few sightings being reported elsewhere in the country to back up this theory. What to do? This was a county mega so despite the fact that I had a seven hour driving day ahead of me naturally the most sensible thing to do would be to get up at 3:45 a.m. so that I could be on-site at 4:30 in case it was still there. So that's what I did.

There is something special about being up and about this early. The first Song Thrush started singing at 3:30 and it was already starting to get light by then. The roads were wonderfully empty and I arrived in good spirits at Balscote Quarry to find several of the Banbury birding crew already there. My good mood was soon deflated however when I learnt that so far there was no sign of it. Gradually the usual suspects started to turn up with Badger & his "Mrs to be" arriving despite the fact that he had to head off to Heathrow to pick someone up very soon. Tezzer, Andy & Ewan all arrived as well and we chatted away, watched the sun come up, spotted a Little Ringed Plover or two, saw a few Yellowhammers and a Whitethroat and altogether no Phalaropes at all. After about an hour and a half, feeling rather spaced out from the lack of sleep, I headed back home in order to get my son ready for school and to prepare for the main trip of the day.

Balscote Quarry

At just after 8 a.m. I dropped L off at school at the pre-school breakfast club and then pointed the Gnome mobile in the direction of Norfolk, a route that I was fairly familiar with having done it a few times now, though I did fall back on the Sat Nav as I went around Northampton - there's one particular roundabout which always seems to catch me out. The sun was shining, it seemed a perfect day weather wise, the warbler was reported as "still present" on RBA and the traffic was light so despite the lack of sleep I arrived at at King's Lynn in the usual two and three quarter hours in good spirits. For the last bit of the journey I decided to do as the Sat Nav suggested and go on the back roads to Burnham Overy Staithe rather than sticking to the A149 though personally I suspected that there wasn't much in it. This did mean that I went through Burnham Market which turned out to be a very pretty and popular (judging by the number of people there) village which looked very nice in the sunshine. The last bit of a Norfolk trip always turns out to be remarkably tortuous and so it was in this case with the post Kings Lynn section taking a tedious three quarters of an hour. Finally I arrived in Burnham Overy Staithe and parked up in the car park by the creek, a place I was familiar with from my previous trip to see the Booted and Barred Warblers in September 2012. Pleased finally to be there, I got my gear together and started on the long walk along the dyke towards the sea and the sand dunes.

Looking back towards the village

In this fine June sunshine I really felt that I was seeing Norfolk in a different light for the first time. All my previous visits have been in the autumn or winter where "bleak" would probably have been the most apt description but here in the strong sunshine with a gentle breeze to take the edge off the heat it looked altogether a different place. Despite my keenness to see the Warbler I savoured the long walk out to the dunes to the line of twitchers that I could see in the distance. There were calling Redshank looking smart in their summer breeding plumage as well as the piping of Oystercatchers. An Avocet flew over, giving away its presence by its call. Over by the large reed-bordered pool near the first bend I managed to see a Bearded Tit zipping over the reeds briefly and there were hunting Kestrels and Buzzards to check out. All very pleasant.

Redshank

I finally got to the boardwalk and then set off in a westerly direction following the edge of the Sueda towards the dozen or so birders whom I could see in the distance. I eventually arrived some three quarters of an hour after leaving the car, to find them staking out a few bushes in a rather bored fashion. Apparently the bird was showing occasionally, perhaps every thirty minutes or so, when it would perch up on top of these bushes and sing briefly before ducking back out of sight. I was just setting up my scope when I heard it singing and sure enough a few moments later up it popped before it ducked down again. In appearance it looked like a dainty Common Whitethroat though with noticeably dark lores and surrounding area. Whilst it had the white eye ring that gives it its name, it wasn't as pronounced on this bird as some photos that I've seen of this species. The wings were more evenly rufous in tone than a Whitethroat and it had striking orange legs. The song sounded rather like a cross between a Dunnock and a Whitethroat. All in all a very nice bird indeed. This brief showing was repeated a few times, thankfully more frequently than every thirty minutes, so I got several brief views of it before things seemed to go rather quiet.

One of the other birders there reported that there was a Little Tern colony just over behind the sand dune hill near to us (presumably Gun Hill) so in the lull I went to take a look. The scenery was certainly beautiful and I couldn't resist taking some more snaps of the stunning blue sky and sea. There were plenty of Little Terns flying around and I made a half-hearted attempt to photograph them but it was too difficult with my super-zoom camera so after a while I made my way back to the Warbler watchers.

Over behind Gunn Hill looking towards the sea

After a while of the bird still not appearing again another birder arrived to join the twitch line. Almost immediately he spotted the Warbler, not on the regular bushes but down in the Sueda not a few yards to the side of where we were standing. There was some initial scepticism from some of the people there who'd become attuned to looking for it on the bushes but it turned out that this was a local birder, Julian Bhalerao, who'd been coming regularly to see the bird and who knew what he was talking about. I soon realised that actually the bird was spending most of its time in the Sueda and just occasionally popping up to sing in the bushes that we'd been dutifully watching so I changed my focus on it more to the Sueda where I was rewarded with many more views of it over the next hour.

The Sueda - home to the Spectacled Warbler

It was a very relaxed affair in the summer sunshine, waiting for the bird to re-appear. I even got a bit sunburnt on the back of my neck so hot was it. The bird itself seemed remarkably unbothered by our presence and would actually often come quite close. Julian was keen to get some photos of it and I too had yet to capture it on camera so as the bird worked its way westwards for a bit we followed it and were eventually rewarded with some great views in the foothills of Gun Hill as it fed and sang in some larger scrub area some fifty yards beyond the original bushes. I even managed to get some passable video footage of it.

After it flew off even further west I decided that I'd better think about getting back and started to head off on the long slog back to the car. A Surrey birder kept me company on the return journey and we chatted amiably about birding and stopped to watch things as we went. We were treated to a fly-over of first one and then a pair of Spoonbills and a Little Tern was fishing by the Bearded Tit pool. In the bright sunshine I attempted to photograph some of the Redshank and Oystercatchers as well as the scenery. 

Muddy Oystercatcher

Finally back at the car park we parted company and I de-tooled and pointed the Gnome mobile in the direction of home, this time opting for the A149 route which seemed a little quicker if anything than the cross-country route. Unlike my previous trip, fortunately this time the journey back was uneventful and I arrived in Oxford at around 6:30 p.m. very tired after my long day but very pleased with my Norfolk adventure despite the lack of sleep.

Drilling, Dipping and Ticking

We've got the builders in at the moment re-doing our downstairs shower room and also treating all the long outstanding damp problems that tend to come with an old Victorian house. This has involved a fair amount of heavy duty drilling to chip off old render and to dig up the floor of the shower room etc. Since I work from home I soon found that I couldn't really concentrate with such a racket going on all day so have decided that on days when there's serious drilling going on, that I will beat a retreat from the sanctuary of my office and instead go out and have a day's birding.

The first time was a couple of weeks ago and no doubt you can guess from the fact that I haven't blogged about it until now, sadly it didn't go too well. Now as regular readers know, I don't tend to like long distance twitching as a rule: it's a long way to go if you don't end up seeing your bird. I have in the past made exceptions for really good birds that were long stayers or highly likely to be seen but in general the two hour guideline works well for me. However I was sorely tempted by the Terek Sandpiper up at Covenham Reservoir in Lincolnshire and the previous day it had been showing well all day. Therefore on the day of my first "escape the drilling" outing when it was reported again first thing in the morning I assumed that it would be pretty much a "sure thing" for all of that day as well. Therefore I set off on the three hour journey to Covenham with a high degree of optimism. I even got a re-assuring "showing well" text part way through the trip and when another text came through just before I arrived I assumed that it too would be carrying good news. Pulling up in the car park I checked the message just to be sure and let out a howl of disappointment. It had last been seen about an hour ago when it had flown off! There were a bunch of disconsolate birders around the reservoir, mainly consisting of late-comers such as myself and the story was all the same though the reason for its departure seemed to vary. Some blamed pushy photographers, others said that a low fly-past by the RAF put it up. Either way it didn't really matter, it was gone and I had dipped. I did a complete walk around the reservoir (à la Wickster) just to stretch my legs and to check that it wasn't hiding anywhere else but apart from a couple of Common Sandpipers and several Wall Brown butterflies there was nothing of note. I ate my lunch in the car park slowly in case it was refound elsewhere in the vicinity but with no news of it eventually I had to concede defeat and made the long slog back home, with nothing to show for my efforts apart from a nasty dip and a feeling of great disappointment. Of course I know that dipping is all part of birding and I've done my fair share of it but I generally try to minimise it as much as possible by only going for birds that I have a good chance of seeing so I definitely wasn't a happy bunny.

The next batch of drilling was due to occur on Monday so naturally I looked around for something good to see. The Ross's Gull at Bowling Green Marsh RSPB, near Topsham in Devon looked a likely candidate: although it had only been identified on the Friday it had apparently been around for nine days before that (I don't really know what those Devon birders have been playing at ;-) ) and had still been around on the Sunday so it seemed a good bet. The only issue with it was that it would often spend a lot of time on the estuary, only coming back to the marsh at high tide or to roost. Fortunately high tide wasn't until 10 am on Monday so an early start should ensure that I got there in time to see it. I was up at around 5:45 a.m. and out of the house by 6:30 arriving shortly after 9 a.m. as expected. I even managed to find a parking spot just at the top of the road down to the marsh where I tooled up and hurried down to the hide. There I was greeted with a view of a large pool with a reedbed at the back and a bunch of loafing Black-headed Gulls.

Bowling Green Marsh RSPB - the view from the hide

It turned out that the bird was there (hurray!) but it was currently hidden (boo!). Someone tried to get me on it but at that instant something spooked the flock and they all went up. This actually turned out to be a good thing as the bird was very easy to pick out in flight. Its small size, with the distinctive dark extended central tail feather and W pattern across its wings all meant that it really stood out. I watched it as the gulls swirled around for some minutes before they all settled again, this time with the Ross's Gull in plain view. I quickly rattled off some digiscoped shots though the light was rather poor.

Three shots of the Ross's Gull

I'd spent no more that a couple of minutes shooting off photos when they all went up again and the Ross's Gull moved off to the left of the hide where the view was very restricted. I settled myself down to wait for it to return and in the mean time took stock of my surroundings. There were between 50 and 100 Black-headed Gulls milling around with a couple of Med Gulls, the odd Common Gull and a single Herring Gull in amongst them. Over to the right in a pool were three Little Egrets and a Grey Heron. Various Shelduck were also around as well as a smattering of ducks. 

Eventually the Ross's Gull flew back in. I picked it up in flight just before it settled on the shoreline. People were just trying to get on it when when suddenly all the gulls including the Ross's flew up as a Peregrine spooked the flock. We watched as the birds flew off to the right and down into the hidden River Clyst behind the reeds and out of sight. 

Shortly afterwards, Phil and Hilary (or "P&H" as they are known), my chums from Cornwall turned up. They'd come up for the day from the far south west in order to try and see the Ross's Gull. Naturally they were disappointed to hear that it had just been spooked by a falcon but settled down to wait for its return. In the mean time we caught up on news and they filled me in on all the Cornish gossip.

Time passed and gradually the hide started to empty. I was carefully grilling all birds that flew in, trying to pick out the Ross's as it came back. Suddenly I picked out a large white incoming bird with a huge spoon-like bill. "Spoonbill" I called out to the hide, and sure enough it was a 1st summer Spoonbill which settled in front of the reedbed. I took a few shots but it was rather distant.

Distant Spoonbill

Time wore on, I got bored with watching the Spoonbill and there was still no sign of the Ross's Gull. Most of the Black-headed Gulls had returned by now and were one again loafing by the main pool. After a while P&H, who it turned out knew the area pretty well as they had friends who lived in Exeter, decided to go for a walk along Goat Walk - a narrow raised path just at the end of the lane by the river Exe where you could look out towards Turf on the other side of the river. I decided to join them just to stretch my legs if nothing else. We found that the river was still pretty high despite it being nearly two hours after high tide though there was a stretch of exposed mud in the distance. On it we found a bunch of Oystercatchers, a few Black-headed Gulls a couple of Whimbrel and a family of Shelduck including nearly a dozen ducklings though sadly there was no sign of the Ross's. P&H decided that they would head off into town for some shopping and to get a bite to eat and then come back later for the evening roost which apparently the Ross's Gull had been attending faithfully for a while. I elected to head back to the hide to finish off my packed lunch and then to decide what to do. 

Back in the hide I'd just settled down to eat my sandwiches when the Spoonbill, which was still there, flew up and landed in one of the small pools to the right of the hide that was just by the roadside and which could be viewed through a gap in the hedge. There were only four of us left in the hide: one chap who'd got the high tide time wrong and was cursing his luck for missing the Ross's and two others who came with me to look at the Spoony. Fortunately the Spoonbill seemed quite unperturbed by us peering at it through the hedge and we were treated to what were for me easily my closest ever views of a Spoonbill, only some twenty five or so yards away. I busied myself with trying to digiscope it though frankly it was a little too close!

Close up Spoonbill

After a while I'd had my fill of crippling Spoonbill views and went back to the hide to finish my lunch. It was now about 1:30 and according to the pager there was nothing else around of note apart from a Greenish Warbler in Somerset which had deteriorated into "no further sign". With nothing else to tempt me if I set off now I'd be back home in time for an afternoon cup of tea with my VLW. So this is what I decided to do.

I wish that I could write that the journey home was uneventful but unfortunately half way up the M5 the car in front of me hit some debris which it kicked up into my path. It must have ruptured my radiator as five minutes later the warning lights went on on the dashboard and my temperature dial went off the scale. Fortunately I was subscribed to a car rescue package so I pulled over and called up the relevant people. There then followed a long wait for the car to be picked and taken somewhere safe for assessment. I was then relayed to a service station where after another long wait a second relay team took me home. I arrived back very tired at 8:30 in the evening some four and a half hours later that anticipated and with the headache of a possible large repair bill to worry about. Still at least I'd had a grand day out and had managed to see a rare Arctic Gull. I sent an enquiring text to P&H about whether they'd managed to see the bird in the end and fortunately it turned out that it had come in to roost at 8:55 in the evening, though apparently it was the only bird there and it decided not to linger but at least they got to see it. 

So there you are, a good day out tempered by some car problems. Sadly there is no further drilling scheduled for our works but at least I got a couple of good outings from it and I even managed to tick a cracking Ross's Gull.

The Frisson of Fritillary Hunting

After my failed attempt to catch up with some Marsh Fritillaries a couple of weeks ago I've been keeping a keen eye on the weather, waiting for a good sunny day so I could have another crack at them. It says something about just how wet and miserable a May it's been that today, the 1st of June no less, was the first day when there was any decent sunshine at all since that last outing. Thus, despite the fact that it was a weekend, I negotiated a pass to see if I could make amends for my failed trip to Barbury Castle. 

Having done some more research I decided that the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Strawberry Banks reserve in deepest darkest Gloucestershire was probably my best bet: it looked like the closest site where I could pretty much guarantee seeing some Marsh Fritillaries. What's more there was a Pear-bordered Fritillary site close by which I could stop off at afterwards to see if I could pick up a bonus Fritillary species. The forecast was for full-on sunshine in the morning though becoming partially cloudy by the afternoon. Therefore I decided to make an early start of it to get the best of the weather and left Chateau Gnome at 8:30 on the one hour journey to the site. There were some very winding, hilly and narrow country lanes to negotiate at the end of the journey though I managed to steer the Gnome mobile safely through these only to go and ruin it all by reversing a bit too close to a wall as I parked and breaking the nearside rear light case. Doh! Putting that behind me, thanks to my Google map research I knew where the footpath was and soon found myself at the bottom of the delightful Strawberry Fields reserve.

Strawberry Banks GWT Reserve

This turned out to consist of two fields of south-facing chalkhill grassland overlooking a steeply sloping wooded valley on the opposite side of a small river that could be heard chattering away at the bottom of the valley. It was still quite early, there was dew on the grass, the whole area was bathed in wonderful sunshine and I had the whole place to myself - Bliss! I stood and savoured the scene, being most struck with the wonderful variety of flowers everywhere. There were several types of orchids as well as a whole array of others that I couldn't begin to identify though they all looked unfamiliar. Sadly such habitat just isn't that common any more and one doesn't come across many of the species that are to be found in such locations. 

One of several Orchid species there - perhaps someone can ID it for me

I started to walk along the path and soon came across my first Marsh Fritillary, taking advantage of the sunshine to get started nice an early. There were quite a few of them dotted around the place and one didn't have to look too hard to find them. I busied myself trying to take photos of them though armed with only my super-zoom camera it was always difficult to get the auto focus to lock onto the insect, especially when it was raised up on the top of a flower stem. Still in the end I managed to come up with some acceptably focused shots.

Marsh Fritillaries

As well as the Marsh Fritillaries there were a few Small Heaths and Common Blues about as well as quite a few moths. I kept an eye out for the metallic green Forester Moths though sadly I didn't spot any. After all too short a time I realised that I would have to get a move on if I wanted to check out my second site and get back home in time for lunch as I'd promised my VLW. So it was back to the Gnome mobile and back onto the narrow country lanes.

The next spot was Hailey Wood, a short ten minute drive away where Pearl-bordered Fritillaries were said to be found. All I knew was that there was supposed to be a clearing of some sort just south of the sawmill though when I arrived it was not at all obvious which way to go as the road to the mill itself was all locked up. In the end I found a chap who was living in the lodge keeper's cottage there and he gave me directions whilst his two dogs barked incessantly and somewhat insanely. I muddled my way along the tracks and bridleways until I came out behind the sawmill but there was no obvious clearing. A bit more wandering around and I noticed a well-trodden path heading off to the left of the main track. I started to follow it and it was soon obvious that the trees were much more thinly spaced here and it was indeed a sort of clearing. It wasn't long before my first Pear-bordered Fritillary hurried by. Unlike the more sedate Marsh Frits, this species seemed perpetually to be in a hurry to get somewhere else and would often zoom out of sight without settling at all. Eventually I found a couple that settled long enough to get off a couple of shots before they too hurried away.

Pearl-bordered Fritillaries

The terrain consisted of bracken, tall grass and scrub and as well as the butterflies there were quite a few blue damselflies darting around as well as various moths. The area looked rather good for deer ticks and indeed back home afterwards when I checked myself I found two of the little blighters on my legs despite wearing walking boots with my trousers tucked into my boots the whole time. I spent an enjoyable hour or so wandering about, looking for flitting Fritillaries and enjoying the sunshine and bird song.

As time was now marching on I decided to be content with the few shots that I'd managed and made my way back to the car. There I pointed the Gnome mobile in the direction of home, happy to have caught up with both species of Fritillary that I'd been after - more than making up for my disappointing previous outing.

Kicking Off the Butterfly Season

As May draws to a close my thoughts have increasingly been turning to the pending June & July birding doldrums which I usually pass chasing after insects instead of birds. The arrival of the fine hot weather conditions have had me thinking of butterflies and so it was that last Saturday I negotiated with my VLW to nip out for a quick butterfly hunt in the morning and then to do the weekly supermarket shop in the afternoon instead. As I only had limited time I decided to go somewhere fairly close by and so chose to try out Barbury Castle, an iron age hill fort on the Ridgeway just over the border in Wiltshire. What was particularly appealing about this site was the possibility of seeing Marsh Fritillaries there though it was by no means a top site for this species and in fact I later found out that numbers have been in sharp decline there recently. Nevertheless it was only an hour's drive away so I thought that I'd give it a go. 

A short five minute walk from the large car park soon found me at the fort which consisted of a central area with a large deep ditch all round. I was told that walking along the bottom of the ditches was the best place to look and this I duly did. The weather conditions were good but I was worried that I was a tad too early for Marsh Fritillaries and in hindsight this turned out to be correct: according to Ewan Urquhart's excellent write-up here the Marsh Frits were only just hatching on this same day in the sheltered and more southerly Dorset site that he chose to visit so if there were any left at Barbury Castle then I was too early to see them anyway. Still I found quite a few Dingy and Grizzled Skippers along with a few Small Copper and the usual Peakcocks, Small Tortoiseshells etc. There's always something to look at and I passed a pleasant couple of hours scouring the grassy slopes with the sound of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits singing away in the background.

Dingy Skippers

Grizzled Skippers

Ruby Tiger moth

Small Yellow Underwing moth

Broad-bodied Chaser

So not the result that I was really hoping for but it was nice to be out in the sunshine and getting to grips with butterflies again.

Spotty & Evasive Part II

Still Spotty & Evasive

At the weekend my VLW and I like to start the day sitting in bed, drinking tea and putting the world to rights. Mrs Gnome was telling me about an interesting article that she'd been reading. Just at this moment my mobile rang: it was Dai John who had re-found the Spotted Sandpiper at Farmoor on the northern shore of F1 near the outflow pipes. Now whilst I had definitely seen the bird last time it had been a brief in-flight view so I'd mentally made a note that should it turn up again I would go and see it so this call meant yet another Code Red Scramble. I hurriedly got dressed and promised my VLW that I would do the weekly shopping on my return though I could tell that this was going to cost me quite a few Brownie Points. I rushed downstairs, updated the Oxon Bird Log, got my gear together and fired up the Gnome Mobile.

Whereas last time the traffic had been horrendous, this time the journey was perfect. There was no outbound traffic that morning and even all the traffic lights worked in my favour. Given where the bird had last been reported I decided to head into Farmoor village and to use the Meadow Close entrance which would take me right to the NW corner of F1. A quick sprint down the track and I was up on the bank. There about 100 yards away I could see Steve Young standing by the outflow pipes and between him and me were two Sandpipers, one of which I could clearly see in my scope had a nice spottty tummy! The wind was phenomenally strong and I was looking into the light so I thought that there was little point in trying for a photo. I had just decided to head over to where Steve was, being careful to keep well down the bank so the birds couldn't see me, when for no reason that I could make out the two birds flew off and headed to the NW corner on the other side of us. In the scope-shaking wind I tried to keep on it but a fisherman was walking around the shore and soon flushed it right down into the north east corner. At this moment Joe Harris arrived so I tried to put him onto it though now it had moved again to the east shore and we were basically looking the entire length of the reservoir. I spent some moments putting out the news and then decided to drive around to the main car park to see if I could see it from there. 

As I arrived in the main car park the usual county birders were all turning up so I spent a little while catching up with them. There was no sign of the bird where we'd last seen it and I met up with Joe who'd just walked around from where we'd first met without having seen it at all. Having had a good view of the bird already and knowing that I was bleeding Brownie Points by the minute I didn't linger and soon headed back to the Gnome Mobile and back to Oxford. Later I got a text from Joe who did manage to see it once more back in the original spot at 11:30 though no one else saw it. So this time only four of us had seen it: Dai, Steve, myself and Joe. What a little blighter this bird was proving.

Another great flight shot courtesy of Roger Wyatt (c)

Glossy & Windy

Back at my desk and about to head off for my shopping penance I noticed an e-mail from Cherry Robertson who'd apparently found a Glossy Ibis on my local patch Port Meadow. Now, I'd been expecting this species to turn up on for a couple of years now so it was great finally to have one on the patch list though I was keen to see it for myself. I therefore loaded my bins and camera in the car along with the shopping bags and set off for my shopping trip via a quick stop at the Meadow. As I parked in Aristotle Lane I met an elderly gentleman who described the Ibis to me, wanting to know what it was. I enlightened him and then made a quick dash up the Aristotle Lane footpath to scan the wind blasted Meadow. I found the two Black-tailed Godwits but try as I might I couldn't see the Ibis. At this moments the heavens opened and without my coat I was soon getting soaked. Disappointed I made a dash back to the car and headed off to do my shopping chores.

Back home a while later, the shopping safely done and lunch delivered to a hungry family, I got news from Pete Roby that the Ibis had returned and he was watching it now on the floods. I wasn't able to drop everything immediately so put the word out and bided my time. As afternoon plans were made my son and I decided (with a bit of prompting from me) to go and fly his kite in the wind on the Meadow. A quick stop off at the sweet shop en route meant that he was happy for us to check out the Ibis before we flew the kite. However, as we were walking along the footpath towards the Meadow we met Pete Roby coming the other way. He reported that the Ibis had flown off, circling higher before headed eastwards. Disappointed we headed on up to the Meadow to fly our kite.

Up on the Meadow a quick scan revealed no sign of it as expected. We were just walking over to where there was enough space for kite flying when I met Ewan Urquhart. He'd been having a rather tough time of it today. He'd been on the way to the Lincolnshire Serin that morning when he got my text about the Spotted Sandpiper. As there'd been no news of the Serin on the pager so far (usually it was reported first thing) he'd assumed the worst and turned around at that point to try to get the Sandpiper instead. By the time the Serin came up as still present at 11:30 he'd been nearly back at Farmoor where of course he'd failed to see the Sandiper at all. Hoping for a consolation Ibis he'd come to the Meadow and now I was going to have to disappoint him again. When I told him there was no sign of it he said that actually Andy Last who was on the other side of the river had told him that he had it in his scope. There then followed a rather difficult conversation with Andy in the howling gale where we eventually ascertained that the Ibis was still present but very distance on the grassland well north of the floods. Eventually we managed to find it and got some distant views in Ewan's shaking scope. Joe Harris, Mark Chivers and Lee Evans were also around by this stage and all saw the bird. This is still quite a county rarity, being only the 5th Glossy Ibis for Oxon I believe and a first for Port Meadow so I was very pleased to have seen it.

Pete Roby (c) took this great shot of the Ibis when it was much closer

My son and I went off to fly the kite though he was a bit scared about unleashing it fully in the wind so it was rather a muted effort. Then it was off to the playground for a quick play on the swings (for my son at least) and back to Chateau Gnome for a nice cup of tea.

Whilst kite flying we saw this wild version

Spotty & Confiding

Ewan and I had discussed the Sandpiper whilst watching the Ibis and had both agreed that a dawn raid at Farmoor before all the wader-flushing fishermen arrived would probably be the best tactic for seeing this elusive bird. Whilst I had the luxury of not needing to do this, he and several others were there at 5:30 the next morning and I was pleased to hear that they were successful, finding the bird in the same spot on the NW corner of F1. In fact the bird lingered until mid morning allowing everyone to come and see it in all its spotty glory. So it was a case of third time lucky for most birders and even Badger, who'd arrived back yesterday evening from his three week sojourn at Lesvos managed to see it.

So it's been a pretty good spring so far in the county with Wood Warbler, Whiskered Tern and now Spotted Sandpiper all being county ticks for myself with a nice supporting cast of Spoonbill and Glossy Ibis on the Patch as well as a heard-only Spotted Crake. I'm just hoping that we might be able to squeeze in one more county mega before the June doldrums set in. Fingers crossed!

Spotty & Evasive

This is turning out to be a very promising yet strangely frustrating spring here in Oxon. Yet another Code Red scramble occurred yesterday with yet another county Mega after the recent Whiskered Tern but once again the bird proved elusive and once more many county birders were left frustratingly high and dry.

It was proving to be a rather dull Wednesday morning with my work. Once again the markets were lifeless and I was casting around for something to do. My business partner called up and we started to chat when suddenly my mobile rang (always an exciting sound at this time of year). I cut short my conversation and turned my attention to the mobile.  It was Dai John - could he have found something at Farmoor? It turned out that he had, a Spotted Sandpiper no less! This was a county Mega: only two previous records, one in 1989 and another the following year, both at Farmoor which seems to hold the monopoly on this species.

I hurriedly posted something on the Oxon Bird Log and started to get my gear together. At that moment Dave Lowe called - he was stranded in south Oxford without a car so I agreed to pick him up en route. The traffic was surprisingly bad all down the Abingdon Road and much of the ring road and we seemed to crawl along for ages. Finally though we were heading out towards Farmoor and as we neared we could see a group of three birders standing on the embankment of F2 (the larger of the two concrete bowls that make up Farmoor) by the car park - that looked promising and also made for only a very short walk from parking the car!

We finally arrived, got our gear together and hurried up the embankment to join the birders which turned out to be Wayne Bull and Barry Batchelor, with Roger Wyatt having walked off. The news wasn't good: the bird was flushing every time a car or walker passed by and in fact only Roger and Dai had managed to see it. The good news was that it seemed to be favouring the south east corner so we decided to hang around here. I called Roger who was by now half way along the south shore to check how he was getting on but he'd had no sign. The weather was incredibly windy and the strong westerly was whipping up waves as it blasted into our faces. It was also very changeable, with squalls of rain interspersed with periods of bright sun so the light was constantly changing. Swifts and hirundines were battling against the conditions and a few Common Terns were zooming around. All in all it had an exciting and yet somehow very chaotic feel to it - no wonder the bird was so flighty. I started to get calls from various birders wanting to know what was going on so spent quite a while on the phone. Whilst talking I picked out a Sandpiper flying low over the water towards us and put Dave onto it. It landed about 150 yards from us though turned out to be a Common.

We decided to spread out a little to increase the chance of finding it. So leaving Wayne Bull staking out the south east corner we wandered back towards the tower by the car park. At that moment a couple of Sandpipers flew in front of us, flying just above the waves. The weather was very dull at this moment but we could all pick out the two birds and excitedly noted that one of them had much reduced wing bars compared to the other which had a strong bar all the way across the wing. It looked promising! The birds flew in to the south east corner and as soon as they landed Wayne started waving at us! We ran towards him and there then ensued a scramble to get on the birds. I hadn't even assembled my scope yet so hurried to do this. At this point the inevitable happened: one of the Thames Water white vans came round to the corner and of course the birds flushed, flying out past Roger Wyatt who managed to get some flight shots before he lost sight of them as they headed towards the causeway.

Some superb flight shots of the Spotted Sandpiper taken by Roger Wyatt (c)

At this point Ewan Urquhart turned up and gradually all the local birders who were in the county (a few are away at present) arrived. However sadly the bird was never seen again despite some heroic searching from people like the Wickster who'd jumped on a bus from Wallingford when the news broke and subsequently walked the entire perimeter of both reservoirs all to no avail. We did find a few Common Sandpipers along the north shore of F1 where it was quieter as F1 had been closed for works there but sadly no sign of its rarer cousin. News broke on RBA about a Spotted Sandpiper which had turned up at Draycote Water in Warwickshire, some fifty miles away though it seemed unlikely that the bird could have made it that far in such a short period of time since it was last seen.

So in the end it all turned out to be very frustrating. Only six of us got to see the bird and for most of us the views were very brief either in flight or on the deck for a matter of moments. Congratulations should of course go to Dai for finding such a rarity but for most us (even those of use who saw it), it was ultimately a very frustrating experience. Let's hope that it gets refound and lingers long enough for us all to enjoy it properly.

At least these Common Terns sat obligingly still while I photographed them

Crouching Spoonbill Hidden Crake

On Sunday I was checking out my Port Meadow patch once more. It was late afternoon, nice and sunny with just a gentle breeze. The Meadow floods have been rather empty of late - all the winter birds have cleared off and we've had surprisingly few spring passage waders so far by way of compensation. I was heading north between the river and the floods to my usual scanning point in the "elbow" of the L-shaped flood waters when up ahead I happened to notice a large bird fly in and land on the flood waters. A quick look through the scope immediately identified it as a Spoonbill. Now from past experience I know not to hang around when one lands on the floods. The first one that I ever found on Port Meadow was back in the day when they were still something of a rarity and it would have been an Oxon county tick for quite a few people. However that one had immediately flown off before I could take any kind of record shot. I've subsequently had a pair of Meadow Spoonbill fly off on me before I could take a photo so I didn't hang around and immediately took some digiscoped video footage. I then set about putting the word out. As I said, it's not the county rarity that it once was but I thought that some people might be interested so I sent a few texts to local birders and county year listers and put it out on RBA. I'd just finished doing that and looked up to find that all the gulls and also the Spoonbill had been spooked by something (I think it was a deflating helium party balloon coming in to land). Anyway, the bird didn't linger but flew off south roughly following the river. As it flew I could see the black tips to its wings which made it a 1st winter bird. A nice bird - shame it didn't stay around for others to enjoy. At least I'd not dallied and had consequently got some sort of record footage of it for posterity.

A grab of the Spoonbill...

...and the video it came from

The next day on the Meadow I met Matthew Foster who birds there regularly. He's a very interesting chap who's birded locally for decades and can tell you about how many hundreds of Lapwing there used to be on the Meadow in the 70's etc. and how there used to be Tree Sparrows nesting in the trees around the edge of the Meadow. He doesn't seem to have a mobile phone, nor access to the internet at all so is completely off the birding grid, just quietly going around and taking handwritten notes in his notepad. Anyway, having in the past lived up in Wolvercote (which is why he knows so much about Meadow birding) he now lives in Kennington. He told me that he'd heard a Spotted Crake singing away in Kennginton by the river yesterday evening. I diplomatically asked him about the call and his description was spot on (he's quite good with bird calls). I put the word out on the Oxon Bird Log and the next night someone else checked it out and confirmed that it was indeed a singing Spotted Crake. 

Having never actually heard one sing before I decided I'd go to check it out for myself so at around 8:30 pm yesterday evening I set off in the Gnome Mobile and parked down the end of Heyford Hill Lane (about here) which by studying the map I reckoned would put me right next to the Crake field. According to Google maps this contained a nice looking small pond surrounded by lots of reeds and scrub. Sure enough as soon as I arrived I could hear it calling intermittently though it would stop for periods; however once it got properly dark its singing became stronger and more regular. There was no chance of seeing it of course but I passed a very enjoyable three quarters of an hour watching the night fall whilst listening to the call of a hidden Spotted Crake.

Some video footage of it calling

Here's a reminder of the very showy bird from September 2010 at Radley which was uncharacteristically quite happy out in the open. See here for write-up