Having for some time been receptive to learning more about Orchids, preferably with informed guidance, on being invited to a sneak preview of a rare Giant Orchid colony in my home county I accepted at once. What I didn’t realise until our second site visit was this is the only national location for the species, which is native to the Mediterranean region but has expanded its range as far as northern France with global warming.

The Oxon colony, then numbering nine flowering and 10 non-flowering plants, was discovered a year ago by a local non-botanist (see here) who nonetheless had an interest in Orchids and informed the relevant learned authorities. A national Orchid referee visited site to confirm the record and upon local enquiry established that specimens flowered here around 15 years ago but then disappeared again. It is not thought these occurred naturally but more likely through seed being scattered, as at certain locations in the Netherlands where the plant has become established. But it is now assumed the species has naturalised in southern England for the first time.

I myself had observed this Orchid once before in Provence in January 2016. It is one of the earliest flowering species in Europe and can live up to its name by reaching a metre in height. But none of the 2022 Oxon specimens was more than 30cm tall. We first visited on 17th March, finding just one emergent Giant Orchid, but on returning a week later found four specimens in bud or beginning to bloom (pictured below). March in Blighty has been an unrelentingly foul weather month, and after a sunny morning the grey, windy, wet stuff set in again when we reached site, as the images and possibly their subjects reflect.

Fast forward a week and word concerning this year’s blooming event had largely filtered through the Orchid grapevine. Though this location has not been made known in the public domain, those suitably connected in the Orchid world would by now be aware of the situation and an Orchid Society group had visited over the previous weekend. On our third call here there were at last sunny intervals and I was guided to an especially fine fifth specimen that had escaped our attention on those earlier visits. It was at a very slippery spot in the steeply sloping site, so gaining these next images required some care. But I managed not to take a tumble, unlike some of my six colleagues today.

A wet arse is of course greatly preferable to a broken ankle, and a hiking pole or shooting stick is essential here. Having attained these required studies I moved on to re-find last weeks specimens, three of which were still present and reasonably correct. The sequence below is for comparison with the earlier one in this post. If this becomes an established British colony then perhaps better picture opportunities may be available in future drier springs when these Orchids might have had less of a battering from the elements.

By agreement with my contacts I have not revealed this location herein. My understanding is limited site access is being arranged in the present season through appropriate channels, and the site details will be released more widely in due course.

This was as easy a twitch as any I can remember. Upon my rising today news of a potential British list addition within 80 miles of home was very welcome. Day after grey, damp, dismal day of late (when I am not working) has been spent largely at home and not finding much motivation for the same-old, same-old prospect of another local wildlife season. So this little diversion was enough to get me out of the door albeit with a fairly low-key, “tick it for Blighty” expectation.

I had observed Alpine Swift previously in Liechtenstein (2009), Provence (May 2012) and Greek Macedonia (Apr 2017). There are some British records in most years, and this week after south-westerly gales a 7-strong cluster in Ireland has been followed up by more occurrences in Cornwall, Devon, “briefly” in Merseyside (perhaps understandably), North Wales and Scotland. At just before 1pm yesterday what at once became a popular draw was found at an ageing nuclear power station on the Severn estuary, no doubt attracted by the insect-rich micro-climates that such facilities generate.

This item was confirmed as still being on-site at first light today, and early arriving observers videoed it roosting on the power station structure. I myself waited for rush hour traffic around both Oxford and Gloucester to subside before hitting the road westward in search of my 378th national bird, reaching Oldbury Power Station (ST607941) at just before midday.

On the approach road to the plant there was a lay-by containing several cars that I presumed belonged to birders. I was expecting to have to walk around the site to observe my quest from the north, but four birders with big lens cameras were stationed just a little back from the roadside. I enquired: “Surely you’re not seeing the Swift from here?”, and was told it would soon re-appear above trees on the opposite side of the road. Indeed it did and things today really were as instant and simple as that.

At 20-23cm this bird is up to 6cm longer in the body than our more usual Common Swift and has a maximum wingspan of up to 58cm compared to Common’s 44cm. That size differential was immediately apparent as my quest hawked for insects overhead, as were the white belly and brown breast band. A few Sand Martin were also on the wing here, offering a size and jizz comparison that served to emphasise just how big the Alpine visitor is. AS also has a markedly slower wing action with deeper scything wing beats compared to other Swifts.

So this was a much more meaningful connect than I had anticipated, indeed as good an encounter as any of those previous ones. Alpine Swift breeds across southern Europe and north Africa on tall buildings, cliffs and rock faces; wintering in southern Africa. It seemed rude to not at least attempt some pictorial records with my equipment that I knew would not be adequate in the conditions. So I did and these (above) are the outcome.

Some of the other birders then followed a path into the wooded area opposite, leaving me with just one other person. I continued to watch the bird circling round and round, constantly on the wing as Swifts do, all the while just enjoying how unexpectedly close it was coming and what a complete species portrait it was offering. A birder then re-appeared in the gateway and called there was even better viewing from a field just through the narrow wooded strip. So I went through joining several big lens toters who were all trying to gain acceptable images in the damp and overcast conditions, then continued to commune with this superb bird.

In all I remained on site for around an hour before rainfall became steadier and I headed back home. The bird roosted overnight again on the power station and left during the morning of 17th. Through that day there were other national sightings of Alpine Swift in Cornwall, Dorset, Northumberland, north Devon and lastly Somerset in the early evening. And what became a record breaking influx continued over several more days. This was a very agreeable British tick twitchette as I edge ever closer to my lifetime target of 400 birds, the majority of which have been within 180 miles of home.

What a difference a new and different bird to go after and see makes! Little could have been more welcome than overnight news that an Oxon mega had been discovered at the prime stomping ground that is Farmoor Reservoir.

My home county is enjoying a purple patch at present where Nearctic ducks are concerned, with the American Wigeon (see previous post) and now this latest item joining three over-wintering Ring-necked Ducks in different locations. The latest alert went out just before 4pm yesterday but seemed lukewarm and uncertain, being cited as “possible” then “putative” before nightfall. So recalling a Lesser Scaup candidate at Farmoor in November 2017 that was overruled as a hybrid, I opted to wait for the ID to be confirmed this time. On rising today that decision had been made and with it came a familiar but recently all too unavailable sense of purpose.

When I reached site just after 8am some earlier arrivals had already relocated the bird but it had flown and they were walking back along the causeway. I followed some of them to where it had been seen to land but there was no sign and alarm bells rang in my head. The group was about to walk on clockwise around F2 when I received a call saying our quest was now in the other direction in front of the sailing club, and so I briefly became a man of the moment for passing on that news. And when everyone present regrouped my second career Lesser Scaup stood out at once amongst a small group of Tufted Duck (below).

My only previous sighting of this species was at Cardiff Bay, Glamorgan in February 2015 (see here). It is common and widespread across North America and a regular vagrant to the British Isles with up to 15 records in some years. There have been two of them in England recently and since one of those, a drake at Staines Reservoir, Surrey has not been seen there in the last two days it is assumed that individual and today’s are one and the same. Similarly the still present American Wigeon is now thought to have commuted between Shapwick Heath in Somerset and Oxfordshire before settling at Otmoor.

Lesser Scaup is as the name suggests a noticeably smaller and more slightly built duck than either greater Scaup or Tufted Duck. Two of the most obvious diagnostics compared to greater in drakes are the high-crowned, less rounded head shape and a coarser vermiculation on the upper parts darkening to the rear. The latter feature was very apparent in today’s bird that I viewed at much closer range than previously in Cardiff Bay. The head shape can vary in appearance as the peaked crown is not a factor of skull structure but arises from elongated feathering, possibly a “bad hair day” as the Oxon birding colleague alongside me put it. This can lead to contentious IDs where the Nearctic duck is concerned, but not today.

Once the Farmoor bird (more muddy record shots above) was pinpointed in front of the sailing club it proceeded to drift up and down the northern edge of F2 fairly close in to the causeway with its Tufted companions, diving all the while. As several other birders commented, this was unusual in a site scarcity which more usually choose to favour the furthest corners of the twin reservoirs from the entry point. Once news went out again more of Oxon’s finest came and went over the ensuing three hours that I remained on site.

I learned the previous Lesser Scaup here had been in March 2000, though there was another elsewhere in the county in December 2007. So high (260+) county listers would presumably have it but many of those from the high 250s downwards could be expected to visit. This was a proper old school county twitch, the first in a while and at least while I was there surprisingly free of social media driven peripheral observers.

A female greater Scaup, always a good bird to see has also over-wintered here, which I took the opportunity to catch up with today. Sooner or later Farmoor Reservoir like any large inland water body will always deliver anew and the Lesser Scaup is actually my 250th Oxon county bird, including two heard only and six non-BOU recognised species that still count for me. More widely my four county birding events so far in 2023 of an early January Yellow-browed Warbler in central Oxford, a new Starling roost in Eynsham, and the two Nearctic ducks have all been motivating. I will of course, with whatever assistance the birding gods might provide, persist in encouraging my recent mind set to shift.