A beautiful day beckoned as the sun came up over Oxford.  A very pleasant change from the very wet weather that we had been experiencing.  It was much colder too, with a chilly northerly wind.  This weather continued for the whole day and made a visit to this wonderful site all the more pleasurable.  The cold air plus the sunshine gave us views as clear as many of us could remember.  Forty of us were in the party, which was the highest number that we have enjoyed for some time.  Birding was good as well, with three totally unexpected species there to be seen.  A Bittern was at first rather reluctant to let itself be seen, but eventually gave us excellent sights at very close range, which were made all the more brilliant by catching a glimpse of a fish that it had just caught.  Glaucous Gull and Great Skua were also seen, though at a distance.  The influence of climate change could be noted from the marked drop in numbers of swans and geese.  Bewick's Swans barely touched 200 compared wit the thousands that used to be there. In all we saw a total of  fifty seven species.

Birds seen on trip

Thirty three of us arrived in Poole on a dull and cool day.  Before joining the boat we assembled for a group photograph,

                     © Ian Kilshaw

Group on quayside

and after joining the boat went on a two hour journey round Poole Harbour.  Most of us were on the upper deck and enjoyed really good views of the various species.  Common Goldeneye were everywhere as were Red-breasted Merganser.  We got really good views of many of these two species.  In terms of the number of species seen the day was not all that good.  We only saw fifty two species, more than on our last visit, but what species they were!  The most memorable was a sight of a Great Northern Diver at about 25 feet away.  That, plus a Black-throated Diver at about 150 yards away, two Long-tailed Ducks flying astern at about 200 yards, numerous Spoonbills at about 300 yards and a Black-necked Grebe at about 300 yards.  What else could we have wanted!

A photo call on the boat before we left, gave us a good view of birding chat!

                   © Ian Kilshaw

Anita, David and Reg on board

After the boat trip we went to Stanpit Marsh a Local Nature Reserve overlooking Christchurch Harbour.  The selection of species here was not good but is provided a pleasant end to an excellent days birding.

A casual photo was taken whilst at Stanpit Marsh.

                                              © Ian Kilshaw

Casual group at Stanpit Marsh

Birds seen on trip

Summerleys and Salcey Forest, Northants

Nine of us travelled by car on a cold, bright but blustery day with short and sharp sleet showers from midday onwards. The strong wind deterred some species from showing themselves, particularly small passerines. One of our party heard a Chiffchaff sing very briefly in a tree near the car park but wasn't able to locate it to see it. On the decidedly choppy water, Common Goldeneye, mainly females, were the most interesting species seen and, because two 2nd. winter Mediterranean Gulls had been present the previous day, all flocks of Black-headed Gulls loafing on the sandy islets were closely scrutinized but, although one or two had vague Med Gull ID features, none were unequivocally identified as Med Gulls. The only wader seen was a Common Redshank and the only raptor was a Common Kestrel. Eurasian Tree Sparrows were present in good numbers at the feeding station, along with Chaffinches and tits.

Again, at Salcey Forest, the feeding station was the best place to see the small birds, and a Eurasian Nuthatch spent some time climbing up and down the trunk of the tree that supported the feeders. Later, we had a very good, close view of a singing Marsh Tit. In all, 40 species were seen by our party during a difficult day for bird spotting.

Birds seen at Summerleys

Birds seen in Salcey Forest

22 April 2007

Ten of us met up with John Wyatt and a friend at Farlington Marsh on what was to become a very cold and blustery day.  Nevertheless we enjoyed excellent birding the highlight for many being a brief glimpse of an Olive-backed Pipit positively identified by John

                           © Ian Kilshaw                                       Black-tailed Godwits

The day started with the visit to Farlington Marsh going round in the reverse direction that we have become accustomed to over the years.  One of the first birds noted was the Olive-backed Pipit.  Good views were had of Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits as  well as many Eurasian Curlews and other waders.  After lunch we went to Langstone Harbour RSPB Reserve at the Hayling Island side.  There we saw a large number of Mediterranean Gulls together with Common Snipe and the day finished with good views of a Water Rail in an open area.

Birds seen on trip

Steps Hill, Ivinghoe Common and Wendover Woods, Bucks

Six of us travelled by car to our rendezvous at the Steps Hill NT car park on a mild, overcast but dry day.

We set off towards Incombe Hole below the hill where Ring Ouzels linger briefly while on migration. On the way we heard several Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps singing , but no Ring Ouzels awaited us. Red Kites soared overhead as we made our way round the hilltop, and we encountered Common Whitethroat and Meadow Pipit as we walked. Near the road below Ivinghoe Beacon a female Redstart in a hawthorn, a Hobby skimming over a field of oilseed rape and a Northern Wheatear in some sheep pens.

We had a lunch-stop near a mass of bluebells on Ivinghoe Common and then set off for a short walk on which we heard, and occasionally saw, several woodland species.

During the afternoon we visited Wendover Woods to try our luck with Firecrest and Grasshopper Warbler. One Firecrest was briefly heard singing just the once and several Groppers reeled, but we didn’t see either species.

We finished the day by the canal wharf in Wendover village where a helpful member of the North Bucks Ornithological Club had said earlier that we’d see Mandarin. Just where they were reported to be, we saw 2 males and a female - a good end to a very enjoyable day’s birding. In all, we’d seen 39 different species.

Birds seen on trip

Day 1

Stodmarsh NNR, Kent

Ten of us met up at Stodmarsh NNR in Kent on a very warm afternoon.  We decided that we would try to see what the reserve had to offer at that time of year and that left us with a fairly strenuous afternoon.  The weather was virtually cloudless with very little wind and the temperature was around 23°C.  

                  © Ian Kilshaw                                            Tufted Duck

Birding was very good and we had excellent sights of both Hobby and Marsh Harrier in large numbers.  Nightingales had just moved in for the summer and we heard at least five singing males.  We left Stodmarsh at about quarter to five having seen fifty nine species plus mink and marsh frogs and drove to the Stade Court Hotel in Hythe where we enjoyed a good evening meal and so to bed!

Birds seen during the day

Day 2

Rye Harbour, E Sussex, Petts Pool and the Old Military Canal near Lympne, Kent

After breakfast we set off to Rye Harbour in E Sussex.  The weather was again warm and clear.  We spent the whole morning at Rye and saw a good variety of birds among them being four different tern species; Sandwich, Common, Little and Black.  Several Mediterranean Gulls were clearly seen among a larger flock of Black Backed Gulls.

                        © Reg Cox                                       Mediterranean Gull

We also witnessed the unusual sight of a rabbit giving chase to a stoat.  After a sandwich lunch we went on to Petts Pool where we had really excellent, though distant, views of a solitary Spotted Redshank.

                     © Ian Kilshaw                                       Spotted Redshank

                           © Ian Kilshaw                                       Reg Cox at Petts Pool

 From there we went to the Old Military Canal, which served as a defensive area in Napoleonic times.  Here we heard more than we saw but the total varieties were high.  In all we saw or heard seventy four species.

Birds seen during the day

Day 3

 Dungeness Observatory and Dungeness RSPB Reserve, Kent

We set off to the Dungeness Observatory where, in a wind that was gathering strength from the NE we managed to see a fleeting glimpse of a Black Redstart.  

                           © Ian Kilshaw                      Group at Dungeness Observatory

From the Observatory we went to the Dungeness RSPB Reserve.  This a newly set out reserve of the highest quality.  Among the may birds that we saw were distant but good views of Garganey 

                    © Reg Cox                                                  Garganey

and Black Tailed Godwit, both in full breeding plumage.

                           © Reg Cox                                           Black Tailed Godwit

There was a good variety of flowers on view of which Early Purple Orchid was possibly the most beautiful

                                               © Ian Kilshaw                        Early Purple Orchid

We saw a total of sixty eight species of birds during the day.

Birds seen during the day

Day 4

Petts Pool Kent

It was blowing very hard from the NE and after a number of fairly abortive attempts to see birds along the coast beyond Folkestone the party split three ways.  A few birds were seen by one group including some that had not been seen earlier on the trip.

Birds seen during the day

What were the most outstanding birding moments?  First was the sight of all the Western Marsh Harriers and Hobby's at Stodmarsh and the large numbers of Northern Wheatears showing all around the coast. Whimbrel seemed to everywhere in large flocks.  Totally we saw or clearly heard one hundred and six species. Great birding!

In all it was a very successful visit to Kent and E Sussex enjoyed by all.  Thanks must go to Reg Cox who organised the whole event.

Birds seen during the whole trip

        Beaulieu Rd Station and Bolderwood, New Forest, Hants

Twenty of us joined the coach on a sunny spring day as we headed south from Oxford towards the New Forest. Weather wise the day lived up to its early promise, a few clouds as the day progressed but almost unbroken sunshine with no wind. Our first stop was at Beaulieu Road Station near Lyndhurst. Within 50 yards of leaving the road we had our first sightings, Wood Larks
very close in and some newly-fledged Stonechats. Under the canopy there were several sightings of Spotted Flycatcher and good numbers of Redstarts including two nest sites where we watched both parents bringing food to the young. There were good numbers of Tree Pipits and overhead Ravens, Hobbies, Buzzards and a Goshawk. The highlight of the morning was a Hawfinch which
was seen briefly by some of the party.

Back to the coach and we ate our lunch while we drove to the other side of Lyndhurst to Bolderwood. The main objective here was Firecrest, Bolderwood being one of the prime sites for this species. After a short walk we located a small group and watched them, sometimes with excellent views, for ten minutes. A good sighting as they are very elusive. When we got back to the
coach the Warden wanted to know exactly where they were and rushed off. Despite being the Warden he had never managed to see them. 

Altogether an excellent day with 53 species.

Birds seen during the day

Snelsmore Common, Berkshire

On a wonderfully warm, sunny and windless evening twenty five of us met up at Snelsmore Common.  It was great to see so many new faces on one of our trips.  In spite of the fantastic weather we did not mange to see at then many different species.  Several Kestrels were around as were a number of singing Song Thrushes.  However what we missed in terms of numbers we made up for with the quality of sightings. Woodcock were roding for about an hour and were more or less continuously visible, some times as near as 100 feet.  At one time we saw four or five in the sky.  At 9:45 as expected we heard the first churring of Nightjar and this became progressively louder.  We got really excellent views in flight, on one occasion seeing two together.  That plus a view of a perched Tree Pipit made the evening a real success.  Hopefully we will see more of the newcomers at another of our events.

On an overcast but dry morning the coach left Oxford with 24 group members on board bound for Keyhaven via Didcot, where we picked up 23 members of the Vale of White Horse Local Group. It became quite breezy when we reached the coast.

The party soon spread out after our arrival at the quay car park, most going towards the marshes, either by the more inland route or along the sea wall path, but several tried the walk along the shingle spit towards Hurst Castle but soon turned back as it proved difficult to see birds on the  very choppy water

It remained dry until we left and, despite the wind, a wide range of species was seen, from Peregrine and Sandwich Tern to Sedge Warbler and Dartford Warbler by one of our party! Flocks of Turnstones roosting on several boats in the harbour provided good photographic opportunities for digiscopers, as did the large flocks of Black-tailed Godwits feeding frantically on some of the pools. A flock of 7 Curlew Sandpipers was also on one of the pools. 2 Little Stints were feeding on the mud-flats and several Eiders were doing the same off-shore. Several of our party saw Kingfisher and Water Rail. In all, the party saw 81 different species, which must be almost a record for one of our day-trips. Two Groups = more pairs of eyes = more birds seen.

Birds seen during the day

Eight of us left Headington Hill Hall on a cold morning with patches of fairly dense fog to meet up on the reservoir causeway with another member of the group.  When we arrived the water was shrouded in thick fog but, apparently ten minutes earlier it had been sunny!  Fortunately, twenty minutes later it became clear and sunny again and it remained so for the rest of the visit.

We saw a good range of bird species through the day, such as Northern Lapwing and Eurasian Coot in very high numbers, but without doubt the highlight of a good day's birding were several sightings of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, seen on a high sunny branch of a poplar by several members of the party.  A flock of twenty five European Golden Plovers circled low over the bright surface of the water a we walked back to our cars - a fitting end to a perfect autumn day.

Birds seen during the day

Twenty four of us met up in Headington.  We were looking forward to going to Pagham Harbour, but were concerned about the lack of hides, bearing in mind the appalling weather forecast.  It was decided that we would abandon the idea of Pagham and go instead to Slimbridge, where there were more than enough hides to let us escape the worst of the weather.  It was, of course, a couple of months earlier than we would have normally have chosen to go to Slimbridge, and this meant that many of the winter birds had not yet arrived.  However, in spite of the dreadful rain, we all enjoyed what we saw - a total of forty eight species.  The most dominant features, were the very high number of Barnacle Geese that were on site and an excellent though distant view of a pair of Peregrine Falcons sitting side by side in a rock.

Birds seen during the day

Lee Valley Country Park, Herts.  

We'd just entered the Bittern Hide shortly after our arrival at Fishers Green, when the first of two heavy showers during the day occurred - we were in the Grebe Hide for the other - so we sat tight and, as no Bittern had been seen for over a month, contented ourselves catching up with other commoner species such as Little Grebe and Common Snipe. Once the shower had passed over, we set off to explore the adjacent southern areas of water and scrapes. Along the canal we watched a flock of 20 to 30 Siskins feeding in the Alders, along with one or two other small species such as Goldfinch and Goldcrest. Later, as we walked to the Grebe Hide located to the north of the Bittern Visitor Centre, we were able to watch 4 very close Goldeneye (3 females and 1 male) and 12 reasonably close Goosanders (6 of each sex).

Despite the gloomy weather, we spent five-and-a-half hours at the site, which is indicative of how much we all enjoyed the day. in all, we saw a total of 47 species.

Birds seen during the day