May 2025

After a good run of birds at Ardley during April, May brought another two patch ticks. Firstly, a Sanderling found by JFT on 16th. Fortunately I was able to twitch it that morning before it departed and add it as my 19th wader species at the site. The quarry has delivered some of the "hoped for" species this spring given the lagoon was out of service due to the water level being kept high. However, towards the end of the month those who manage the ERF site re-opened the sluice gate on the lagoon and the water level has dropped considerably. I'm not sure why it was shut, but assuming it now remains open it should hopefully mean a muddy scrape once more to pull in the waders on their autumn migration. With that and the quarry, hopes will be high! The second patch tick was less exciting in the form of a Reed Warbler on 26th. I've only ever had one Sedge Warbler at Ardley before so some of these common species remain good birds for the site.

Two Ringed Plovers arrived with the Sanderling, and although it is impossible to be certain, there must have been at least a dozen pass through the site over the past couple of months. A couple of Dunlin towards the end of the month was also a nice addition to the patch year list. They are expected but always nice to see, especially in summer plumage. The only other real bit of interest for me was a colour ringed Yellow-Legged gull. It was just close enough that I could read the ring (24J:C). The code combination allowed me to find the ringing scheme on European Colour Ring website. It is a bird from the Carmargue in the south of France. I emailed the scheme but have not yet had a response. I can tell it's a third year bird but it would be interesting to get some more data on it if they had any.

Four Little Egrets on the quarry lake beat my previous high of two at once. A couple of pairs of Coot bred successfully which I think may be a first here, I don't recall them doing so previously. After a bumper spring for Yellow wagtails it seems likely some have remained to breed with still a few around in the sheep fields, one seen gathering food.

A displaying U.S. plumaged Spitfire one evening

I hope this year will be a better year for butterflies. A couple of Painted Ladies has been my highlight so far. The Trow Pool is a good little spot for dragonflies and damselflies. A few Hairy Dragonflies and a single Downy Emerald so far are good records for the site. Below are images of both of those species I took during the month at Dukes Lock Pond north of Oxford. I went there to look for Variable Damselflies. Despite not taking a machete to clear the undergrowth round the pond, I managed to see a few Variables and also got nice views of most of the resident species.

Downy Emerald

Hairy Dragonfly

Four-spotted Chaser

Away from Ardley, the resident pair of Oystercatchers at Blenheim hatched what I believed to be a lone chick on the Queen Pool island. However, I saw a report later in the month of two chicks so even better. This pair has been present for three years now and this is the first year they've been successful. As with the pair of terns that nested a couple of years ago I fear for the survival of the chicks given they are surrounded by herons, egrets, cormorants, gulls and kites, etc, etc. But the terns survived and the adult Oystercatchers are determined parents so there's every chance. Presumably they are finding enough food for them given they are initially semi-precocial and require provisioning.

A decent number of Spotted Flycatchers at Blenheim is encouraging to see and hopefully they have a good breeding year.

I've not been keeping much of an eye on the nesting Cattle Egrets, but safe to say at least a few pairs are nesting currently. Some of these birds were feeding north of Woodstock late in the month in their favourite field, interestingly without cattle. Although they obviously don't need cattle, I find it's quite unusual now to find them locally without them.

I've tried to catch up with the best of the county birds this month and been largely successful. That began with the Temminck's Stint at NCVW pit early in the month which followed on from the Avocets a couple of weeks earlier. I dipped the Grey Plover there mid-month but did get the consolation Whooper Swan which was a bizarre record. I paid an early visit to Otmoor one morning to see the Glossy Ibis that was almost guaranteed to be at the first screen in its roost at that time. It was nice to see it in its breeding plumage, albeit in poor light. If it wasn't distinctive enough already, its active primary moult gave it a striking silhouette! 

It was also great to enjoy both of Oxon's star birds this spring. Fortunately for me the Red-footed falcon stayed for couple of days as I dipped it on the evening of its first full day. It was mainly high in the sky on that second day and a struggle to keep in view most of the time. Its overall paleness from below was quite apparent even in the bright sky, but it was tricky to pick it out from the hobbies it was with. It did come down to a more viewable height on a couple of occasions but only briefly and it didn't once perch up in any of the nearby trees as it had done the day before. It seems the warmer, cloud-free day meant the insects were up higher and so were the falcons hunting them. But it was great to see it even if it did stretch my togging skills to the limit trying to find it in the bright sky and focus on it. I was happy to get some passable shots of it in the circumstances. 

I was lucky to be able to go for the Savi's warbler on the morning of its discovery. After initially thinking it would be a "heard only" tick, some good work from those present to narrow down its position in the reed bed meant we were able to see it briefly. Thankfully others were able to get some decent shots of it later in the day to do justice to such a notable county bird. So an enjoyable couple of local twitches for some quality ticks.