Barry Hudson

Oxford Ornithological Society secretary Barry Hudson looks how the county’s birds are getting together for spring rituals

The recent warm dry weather belies the time of year, although the encroaching evening darkness reminds us that nature’s clock is ticking away.

The lower than usual numbers of waders passing through the county this late summer/early autumn has been disappointing, probably due to the weather being so kind to them as most simply overflew in the fine high pressure conditions that dominated for long periods. Good counts of wheatears and redstarts were recorded but generally things have been quiet. A rather exciting exception was the yellow-browed warbler found by Oxford Ornithological Society member Adam Hartley on his local patch at Port Meadow. Adam initially identified this tiny bird from its high-pitched call before eventually spotting it in a hedgerow. Due to the birding skills of Adam, many Oxon birders were able to enjoy the sight of this wren-sized bird more familiarly at home in Siberian-type habitat. This was the first decent sighting since 2003 for Oxfordshire and across the country reports mirrored our own experience. Distinguished by its broad yellow supercilium above a dark eye stripe it often keeps company with blue, great and long-tailed tits another super little bird it can sometimes be found in the company of is the goldcrest. You can keep in touch with the birdlife on Port Meadow through Adam’s blog Port Meadow Birding. Birds that are currently either just moving through the county from their Scandinavian summer home, or most likely staying longer to feast themselves on the bounteous berry harvest that our hedgerows have this year produced, are fieldfare and redwing, these are often referred to as the winter thrushes as they are indeed close relatives of the more familiar blackbird, song and mistle thrush that we often encounter. Another thrush-like bird the county always records at this time of year is the ‘blackbird wearing a necklace’, the ring ouzel. With luck, the strikingly spectacular waxwing will again honour and excite us with its presence in the county, this is a bird that relies heavily for its food source on the many rowan trees that the gardens and public places of Oxfordshire have planted over the years.

And so the turning year slides into autumn, that somewhat melancholy time of gold, yellow and brown falling leaves that flutter to the ground, at least that is until the stormy seasonal winds wrench them from the branches that have nurtured them as the miracle of photosynthesis has sustained the many plants that have evolved to capitalise on this remarkable process.

It’s been a tough difficult winter for us with grey depressing days interspersed with snow and copious amounts of rain, invariably in very cold windy conditions.

Warblers have been a topic of conversation among birding folk in Oxfordshire recently who have noticed a depletion of numbers with the once common willow warbler now markedly reduced and even the most common of the warblers the chiffchaff not as abundant as it once was.

It was the most forward hawthorn bush I had seen this year with its snow white blossom almost dazzling in the rarely seen bright sunlight.

The little owl was introduced into this country at the end of the 1800s and is now a fairly common bird in most of Oxfordshire.

Just the other morning looking skywards, I watched and envied a wood pigeon flying fast and direct and thought ‘Oh! For such freedom of the sky’.

Let me take you back to the year 1962, for the swifts in the University Museum Tower are about to be introduced to a young Roy Overall, a keen Oxon birdwatcher.