October 2025

October turned out to be another enjoyable month of local birding with some good birds on my patches and yet again some great county rarities to twitch. I'll begin this post with my local patches. The lack of evening light forces a shift in focus away from Ardley to my doorstep patches in Woodstock. That tends to coincide with more interest at Blenheim as the autumn progresses and more birds appear after the summer lull. The best bird this month was an adult Little gull on 6th October. A very sunny and insect-filled afternoon walk around Blenheim had drawn in plenty of gulls hunting flies over the lakes. As I crossed the bridge and had a scan over the Main Lake, my attention was drawn to a small gull sat on the lake. It was pretty distant but it could only be one thing. I rushed round to the lake edge to get closer. The light was incredibly harsh and not ideal for photos, but I was happy to get some really nice views as it took flight and hunted insects over the water. Work commitments meant I couldn't savour it for too long. A really good bird for Blenheim with the last record being in 2021.

Blenheim has done well for Crossbills this month and there has been up to 20 around the park. It has obviously been a good autumn for them, so hopefully these birds hang about for the winter. A couple of Brambling in the finch flock feeding in the sunflower patch hopefully bodes well for an influx of them this winter. I don't think I saw one last winter, having seen hundreds the winter before that. There are already a decent number of Chaffinches and Greenfinches in this flock so hopefully a good sign.

The last remaining juvenile Cattle egret gave me one final viewing on 8th October. I've not seen it since so safe to say it has now departed. Not quite as close as my previous encounter, but still not fussed by my presence.

It seemed to have something stuck in its throat momentarily and shook it's head to free whatever it was. It was only when I checked the photos I saw the amount of saliva it sprayed out in the process!

Three Great white egrets are the most I've seen so far at Blenheim this autumn. There are up to half a dozen Little egrets around the lakes, with one or two being fairly confiding.

There are a decent number of dabbling ducks on the lakes. I don't think it's a stretch to estimate there must be a thousand Mallards in the park. I don't recall seeing so many as there are currently. In contrast, there are very few Gadwall. I'm sure numbers will grow as the winter approaches but it seems strange their numbers are so low. A single Pintail mid-month was the only duck of note, but it didn't hang about. A small number of Mandarins occasionally come close enough for a photo, but are very wary in general. I've yet to see any evidence of breeding around the lakes in recent years despite it seeming to be an ideal location. They are already looking pristine whereas the Wigeon, Shoveler and Teal are gradually moulting into their finery.

A few of the Blenheim regulars...

A Wheatear in the new building site north of the town was nice to see. Again the area has done well this autumn scoring Redstart, Whinchat and Wheatear as it did last year. The other highlight here was a flock of five Great white egrets over headed west. Despite being a common sight locally now, seeing a small flock of them in flight was a first for me.

Ardley failed to turn up any more waders this month, so all in all a very disappointing autumn here after the highs of last year. I've not seen any Green Sandpipers on the lagoon for the past few weeks, and a late Common Sandpiper on 26th October was the only notable wader this month. The return of some of the wintering species have been nice to watch on a few mornings at the site. A couple of patch ticks in the form of Cetti's warbler and Water rail towards the end of the month were a nice reward for the hours put in.

Away from the patches, the obvious highlights were the county rarities found by Jeremy Dexter. Fortunately for me I was able to go for both the Bluethroat and Twite almost immediately. Both involved a slog of a walk, but ultimately worth it. The small area the Bluethroat chose looked almost designed for one. Quite how these scarce migrant birds manage to find somewhere suitable on their travel across the country I find amazing. 

One extreme to the other in terms of ease of photography!

Other highlights this month included the Whooper swans at Stratfield Brake late, a lovely record for that small site. And it was nice to get some close views of one of the many Rock pipits that have graced Farmoor reservoir this month.