Female flava

1. Blue-grey head contrasting with mantle.

2. Darker lores than flavissima.

3. White throat, supericilium and ear-covert spot – typically
yellow in flavissima.

4. Buzzy call.

Female thunbergi

1. Very dark grey head and lores, some overlap with flava.

2. Reduced supercilium – thinner than flava, not flaring behind
the eye.

3. Reduced ear covert spot.

4. Often has whitish throat/supercilium, but some individuals
more yellow.

5. Often has dark marks/streaking in a “necklace”
shape extending onto chest below throat – also present in male thunbergi.

6. Has buzzy call like flava – may be separable from flava
using sonogram

As in previous years we will be taking a small break over the
summer lull but will be back at the end of July to round up any notable
sightings that may have happened over the summer. The county year list now has
ticked up to 177, despite me saying it was 183 in the last review which
included subspecies, ferals and probable records. With those included it now
stands at 193 with a small flurry of cracking subspecies recorded this month
and a couple unconfirmed probable’s.

Waders

An expectedly busy month for wader records, with plenty of
interesting species moving through the county. The main highlight came in the
early part of the month when a pair of Avocet turned up at Peep-o-Day
Lane on the 6^th. Quite a late record with most birds already on
nests around the country, there was some brief hope that these birds would set
up shop in the county when the birds remained for a couple of days after.
Unfortunately, the birds departed by the 10^th, despite behaving
territorially in the time they were here. 

courtesy of Steve Sansom

Sanderling had a good showing
this month, with records from the 4^th all they way through to the 26^th.
A classic bird of late spring, with birds heading as far north as Greenland,
the first bird arrived on the 4^th. This was followed by two on
the 11^th which seemingly remained until the 17^th. A nice
flock of five were present on the 22^nd in inclement weather, with
between two and four still present until the 26^th. 

courtesy of Debbie Cummins

Turnstone were present on Farmoor in the latter part of the
month, arriving initially inclement weather along with the Greenland bound
Sanderling and arctica Dunlin. A pair of birds was present
on the 22^nd until the 25^th. A probable 2^nd
pair of birds was then present on Farmoor on the 30^th. Whimbrel
records only came from the early part of the month with two sites recording
birds on the 4^th of the month – three birds on the Farmoor and
a single bird on Pit 60, whilst Greenshank were also present at
two sites at Farmoor on the 4^th and Waterstock on the
11^th. Dunlin records calmed somewhat in May, although
four sites still hosted birds. Farmoor, Port Meadow, Ardley and Venn
Mill with only singles at the latter two. Farmoor saw the most birds
where up to 13 were present on the 27^th, but most interestingly were
two to three strong candidates for the arctica subspecies. With only a
handful of good candidates in the last two decades – birds are typically paler,
smaller and shorter billed birds classically arriving in late May and
are potentially on route Greenland. A thorough blog post on arctica in
North Spain can be found here – https://subalpinebirding.com/blog/greenland-dunlin-ssp-arctica-a-first-approach-to-its-identification

Above and below, the candidate arctica courtesy of Ian Lewington

…the top left bird

Courtesy of Ben Sheldon

A Grey Plover was reported but unconfirmed from Otmoor
on the 12^th, whilst a beauty of a Wood Sandpiper came
from Widford on the 19^th although unfortunately it didn’t
linger long enough for others to connect beyond the single day.

courtesy of Mick Cunningham

 Black-tailed
Godwit records were limited to the early part of the month and to only single
birds at two sites – Port Meadow on the 4^th and Days Lock on
the 8^th. Ringed Plover records also tailed off with only three
sites seeing birds recorded, with all hosting multiple birds. Port Meadow recorded
five on the 9^th with a single there on the 25^th. Balscote
Quarry played host to three birds on the 14^th, whilst Farmoor
had two on the 7^th. Common Sandpiper continued to move through
the county in small numbers, presumably a mix of non-breeders and birds moving
further north, with five sites recording birds. Henley Road, Grimsbury,
Farmoor and Oxford all recorded birds in the early part of the month
whilst Farmoor, Grimsbury and Port Meadow recorded multiple birds
together in the latter stages of May. 

Wildfowl & Game etc

The year’s first Quail was right on que with the arrival
of a duo of singing birds at Chipping Norton on the 12^th. This
was swiftly followed by a single singing bird at Toot Baldon on the 16^th,
which was still singing on 19^th. Presumably June will bring
with it more singing birds along the various cereal fields of the Downs,
certainly worth an early rise if you get a chance to.

Garganey were at five locations this month with some encouraging signs, due to
lateness of the records and length of stay, that some local breeding may occur
again. Records all came from the north and west of the county with all records
been single drakes or pairs. A rather late record of White-fronted Goose came
from Otmoor on the 15^th with two birds here, although these
may relate to the feral birds that frequent the county all year round as opposed
to the Russian birds that spent much of the winter on site.

The Port Meadow Garganey courtesy of Steve Sansom

Some great news of breeding Shelduck came from two sites
this year. A rare breeding bird in the county, its fantastic that two pairs
have bred at Days Lock and Venn Mill. At the former the pair were
first observed on the March 16^th with the male behaving very
territorially from the off before the female disappeared a month later. By May
20^th the pair had returned to the new scrape on the Earth
Trust land with 10 fresh ducklings having seemingly swam down river from
their nesting location.  A further three
sites hosted birds this month, with Port Meadow recording 11 birds on
the 28^th, with the prevalence of so many birds well into the breeding
season it seems maybe more breeding records may be on the cards. 

Shelduck family courtesy of Geoff Wyatt.

Herons, egrets etc

In what might have been a contender for the highlght of the
month, if not for a
certain Grey-headed Wagtail at the same site earlier in the month, a juvenile Spoonbill
was present on Port Meadow on the 22^nd. This record was made
even more interesting by the fact that it was colour ringed from a ringing
scheme in Denmark! Ringed as a chick in Hoje Sande, Ringkobing Fjord
in June 2023 the bird spent the winter on the Hayle Estuary, Cornwall
with a small jaunt to Yorkshire in between. A brilliant record and
amazing to be able to trace this birds movements since leaving its native Denmark.
The bird was gone by the following day and has hopefully made its way north
back to its homeland. 

courtesy of Thomas Miller

Another decent bird to grace the county this month was a Glossy
Ibis which turned up at Otmoor on the 4^th. The bird remained
here until the 6^th before then also visiting Port Meadow on
the same day, a site which has had a particularly good late Spring. The
bird then went missing and was assumed to have departed the county. A 2nd bird was seen then on the 17^th again at Otmoor and was
present on and off again between then and the 27^th, with a brief
sighting at  Port Meadow  on the 24th and at Clifton Hampden on the 25^th.

Glossy Ibis Otmoor rspb courtesy of Kyle Smith.

The Port Meadow bird courtesy of Thomas Miller

More White Stork records
were observed this month where a presumed Knepp Estate ringed bird was
observed flying over several locations in the county on the 11^th. An
apparently un-ringed bird was also then present at Waterstock the
following day with several birds frequenting this area over the last couple of
months.

Courtesy of Wayne Paes

Cattle Egret continued their typical pattern of this time of year with all
records coming from northern and western parts of the county, anywhere within
commuting distance of their breeding colony at Blenheim. The highest
count, aside from there, came from Shipton-on-Cherwell where six birds
were present on the 24^th, whilst a further seven sites recorded
between one and two birds throughout the month. Great Egret records dissipated
a bit more this month, although up to six birds seemed to be present in the
county at any one time. A maximum of four were at Pit 60 on the 4^th
whilst a pair were frequented Otmoor through the month. At least two
birds were seen in summer plumage, could this be the year?

Otmoor Cattle Egret courtesy of Steve Cumnock

Gulls and Terns

May was all about quality over quantity for
Gull and Tern records. Otmoor got its, and the county’s, 2^nd
Little Tern of the year only two weeks after the first one at the end of
last month. Both these records come after an absence the previous year, but
unfortunately both were brief records unlike the 2022 bird which stuck around
for several day across Port Meadow and Farmoor. The county also
saw its first Black Tern of the year with a small flock of eight birds on
Farmoor on the 11^th, it’s always a wonderful spectacle to see
this species darting and bouncing around the reservoir whilst on active migration! 

courtesy of Ewan Urquhart

The early part of the month also saw more
records Sandwich and Arctic Tern. Rushy Fen had a single Sandwich
Tern on the 1^st of the month, followed up by a cracking record
of multiple birds on the 7^th where four graced the same site. The 3^rd
saw yet more Arctic Tern moving through the county across multiple sites.
Grimsbury Reservoir saw 2+ birds come and go fairly quickly, as records tend
to at this site, whilst Dorchester Sailing Club had at least three birds
pass through. Farmoor initially hosted a few birds on the morning of the
3^rd which slowly increased to 20+ as the day went on in what
appeared to be one last big movement of birds across the country. No birds remained
at any sites the following day.

Lingering winter gulls remained in
the county all the way through to the end of the month, in what has become a
later and later pattern in recent years. A 1^st summer Caspian
Gull was initially at Shepherds Pit north of Oxford on the 14^th,
which then appeared at Port Meadow on the 25^th. Whilst an adult
Yellow-legged Gull was at Sonning Eye GPs on the 7^th. 

Passerines

A quiet month for rarer and migrant passerines with the big
push of birds occurring in the previous month. The main highlight for the month
was a stonking male Black Redstart on residential street in Bicester on
the 2^nd. Unfortunately like the previous records this year it was untwitchable
and not located the despite searching. A lone Whinchat record came from Otmoor
on the 9^th whilst several Wheatear likely bound for Greenland
were at Farmoor on the 7th and Yarnton on the 14^th ,
with the Farmoor bird been a particularly good candidate.

In rarer Motacilla news Farmoor hosted a single
White Wagtail record on the 3^rd, whilst three female Blue-headed
Wagtail were present on Port Meadow on the 3^rd following off
the back of the subtle female thunbergi type Yellow Wagtail also
present here on the 3^rd.

Cuckoo Otmoor rspb courtesy of Kyle Smith.

Raptors

A
wholly unconfirmed report of a Black Kite over Otmoor came on the
15^th of the month, unfortunately the reporter was not pinned down
for any additional details so this one will remain a mystery. The same applies
for an unconfirmed report of a Honey Buzzard over Weston-on-the-Green
on the 23^rd. Short-eared Owl, however, continue to linger
in the county at several sites with a strong hope that some birds may eventually
breed in the county. 

Peregrine St Marys Witney Courtesy of Andrew Hall

Hobby were
present in good numbers at Otmoor through the month with a brilliant high
count 17 here on the 4^th. Marsh Harrier were noted at a few
locations from the usual site of Otmoor with five sites recording birds.
Appleford GPs and Bicester Wetlands were particularly unusual
given the time of year with a pair seen in the west of the county over Witney,
Ducklington and Rushy Common were perhaps more usual locations given
the proximity to Pit 60 and Chimney Meadows. 

Patchwork challenge