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Oxfordshire birding (1 Viewer)

Farmoor

Grey Phalarope was still showing well mid morning. Dunlin, Plover, Common Sandpiper, Black and Common Terns with talk of a Sandwich Tern being seen.

Nothing much at Otmoor - 3 heron and a very quick view of the Marsh Harrier by the first screen. Then it rained :-C

Di
 

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I was going to have a trip to Norfolk this morning but decided to stay at home and though i may be kicking myself later i got some nice local birds.
The trees and bushes around the reserve teamed with birds, mostly of tit flocks but they also held Goldcrest, chiffchaffs and two Whinchats. One quite confiding and a very shy male, and they soon moved some distance away. There were also two Wheatears around the reservoir.
In the woodland north of the reservoir Tit flocks held more goldcrests, chiffchaffs and a willow tit. As i was watching them a crossbill flew over calling strongly and clearly. Around the corner was a small flock of Sisknis that have returned for winter.

Gareth
 
Hi, I'm new to Oxfordshire birding and can only get about by bike. The roads to Farmoor are a little dangerous so I though I should scout out some other areas first. Is there a map of Port Meadow - I went on the blog where there was a map of the floods but couldn't find a general access map...?
 
jimmyg said:
Hi, I'm new to Oxfordshire birding and can only get about by bike. The roads to Farmoor are a little dangerous so I though I should scout out some other areas first. Is there a map of Port Meadow - I went on the blog where there was a map of the floods but couldn't find a general access map...?
Click to expand...

Port meadow is here: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.s...=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf

It is best accessed (in my opinion) from where the car park is. This brings out directly to the floods. Burgess feild NR is where the blue bird is on the map.

Hopefully you'll find your way round OK. How long are you here for?

Gareth
 
Brill, thanks Gareth! I'm at uni, so am in Oxford during term times but probably won't be able to get out that much :-C
 
A wood sand is kicking around Otmoor still apparently, seen yesturday on the area that has recently been dug over left of the bridleway before you turn right to the first screen.

Also recently there have been good numbers of Blackwits at Port meadow and Ruff there today.

No news coming out of Farmoor, which is a bit odd...

Gareth
 
Saw this on Birdguides and was reminded of reports from Port Meadow of the Golden Plovers:

During 15th—22nd October 2008 hundreds of birdwatchers will be participating in the biggest coordinated international survey of Golden Plovers to date. October sees at least 1 million Golden Plovers occupy a zone from southern Scandinavia, the Baltic and Low Countries across to Britain and Ireland. In all these countries counters will be out recording plovers in a synchronised effort to get a better handle on the total population. Please play your part and submit counts of any Golden Plovers you see via BirdTrack or the Atlas. Not only will you be improving our knowledge of this species, you'll also be getting ready for the Atlas kick-off on 1st November.

Also, regarding your comment on Farmoor Gareth, I looked on the website and the log book hasn't been updated since September - is there simply nothing there, or something rather special perhaps ;)?
 
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I was daydreaming about finding an AGP at Port Meadow just yesterday, which would be a lifer for me (and no. 300 at that!) and today decided not to come out because it was wet...

Congratulations Gareth and Ian, model patch birders. Hope it is there tomorrow... if I manage to get there I will let you know if it is still present or not (though I suspect you will be down there yourself).
 
Was at Port Meadow early afternoon,but no sign of the AGP sadly :-C. It was made worse by the fact that I didn't bring my tripod to uni (trying to travel lightly), only my brother's hide stand, so I had to lie down on the concrete path to scan the flock! On the positive side there was some good entertainment from several tit flocks, and a buzzard flew low over.

Also, I'm pretty sure I had a bar-tailed godwit, but it was looking through someone else's scope and a didn't really take much notice of it since I'm used to Norfolk birding. I scanned back through the flock using my bins, but could have missed it easily if it had its head tucked in (when I saw it initially I only saw the head very briefly). When I finally got my scope out the plover flock landed so I was only really concentrating on them... I suppose there is a chance it was a blackwit at a bad angle, but it would be good to know if anybody else had one.
 
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Although obviously not what the Oxon birders would want, let's hope the AGP has nipped a few miles north-east and over the border into Bucks, where it would prove very popular, being our first since 1991 |=)|

For those who aren't bothered by county boundaries, it's perfectly feasible this could happen! Of course there's the far more suitable habitat of Otmoor nearby, but east of Bicester, along the Bucks-Oxon border, there's a wealth of damp grassland habitat which attracts large numbers of Goldies and Lapwings in the winter.

The great news is that BBOWT (the local wildlife organisation) are creating a brand new , fairly sizable wet grassland reserve here, with similar habitat to Otmoor, which would compliment that reserve nicely.
 
Hi James,

I think that I must have met you yesterday on the Meadow (unless there was someone else lying down on the ground by Burgess Field NR gate looking through their scope!) I was the chap going for a run in Burgess Field with my bins who spoke to you briefly.

I'd be surprised (and delighted) if you had managed to find a barwit on the Meadow as we'd not had one there yet this year (see the year list on the blog) and to my knowledge there's only been one seen in Oxon this year at Farmoor. It's always possible and I do keep a look out for them but no luck so far.

By the way, with regards to the Farmoor Birding postings, apparently there's very little bird activity there at present which is why there have been no updates. With regards to your query on getting there I would suggest the bus if you don't wish to cycle out there.

Good Birding!

Adam

__________________________________________________________
Port Meadow Birding - a diary of bird sightings at Port Meadow, Oxford
www.portmeadowbirding.com



jimmyg said:
Was at Port Meadow early afternoon,but no sign of the AGP sadly :-C. It was made worse by the fact that I didn't bring my tripod to uni (trying to travel lightly), only my brother's hide stand, so I had to lie down on the concrete path to scan the flock! On the positive side there was some good entertainment from several tit flocks, and a buzzard flew low over.

Also, I'm pretty sure I had a bar-tailed godwit, but it was looking through someone else's scope and a didn't really take much notice of it since I'm used to Norfolk birding. I scanned back through the flock using my bins, but could have missed it easily if it had its head tucked in (when I saw it initially I only saw the head very briefly). When I finally got my scope out the plover flock landed so I was only really concentrating on them... I suppose there is a chance it was a blackwit at a bad angle, but it would be good to know if anybody else had one.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Adam! I'll keep a look out for you in future then, good to meet you. I think I must have made a mistake since there were so many people there that day... I never expected bar-tailed godwit to make it onto my string list!

Thanks for the bus suggestion as well.
 
James - sounds like you're doing better than me! Now that I didn't expect.
To be honest, its a big relief, what with being immobilized after the operation! Westerlies forecast for ages...though if we were to get an easterly breeze, there probably wouldn't be much left on the West coast of the continent to be of much interest. By the time we get any winds from the eastern quater a large proportion of the migrants will have moved through the continent instead of over the North Sea. (I bet you're pleased about that) Stuff's still having to move though - Connor had 2 Ripits, 2,500 Redwing, 2,000 Starling and nearly 1,000 Chaffinches at Gore Point this morning. Gary was at Hunstanton Cliffs and had more like 3,000 Chaffinches! Oh well! There was also a Nightjar at Wells...
The only stuff I had today was a small flock of thrushes over the house when I managed to hobble around the garden - 12 Redwing and a single Fieldfare (the latter being my first for the autumn). A tit flock contained 13 Long tailed, 2 Great, 2 Coal, 5 Blue, and 5 Goldcrests...
Have fun...
Sim
 
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