August is a great month on my local patch. The focus during the second half of the month is on recording the locally scarce trio of Western Yellow Wagtail, Spotted Flycatcher and Tree Pipit. The wagtail and the flycatcher have been annual in very small numbers for the last seven years, but Tree Pipits are much harder to connect with. Tree Pipits have been recorded on average about once every other year in the Lye Valley area, although the last record was 28th August 2022, with 2023 and 2024 both being blank years.
My experience is that I hear Tree Pipits migrating overhead in periods of high pressure: nice sunny mornings, with either no wind or just a gentle south-westerly breeze. I don’t usually record them at very first light, which can be before 5:30am in mid-August, but often between 7am and 9am. This leads me to think that the birds that pass over this part of east Oxford have roosted elsewhere, and then have begun their migration at dawn, passing over me an hour or two later. There have been a couple of records of grounded birds, but the majority of records involve migrating birds, flying over, calling.
All the records of Tree Pipit in the Lye Valley area have been between August 21st and September 8th:
This year Mark Merritt found the first autumn Tree Pipit on the Oxfordshire downs on 8th August, his earliest by nearly two weeks. On 9th August another bird was reported over Cutteslowe Park in north Oxford by Jeremy Dexter. The forecast for this morning, 10th August, was perfect: high pressure with virtually no wind. I was out at dawn, but returned from the Lye Valley area with nothing more than the first autumn Willow Warbler for my efforts. There was no visible overhead migration at all.
At 8am, I was sat at the kithcen table, with the windows open, when I head the explosive, buzzy squeak of a Tree Pipit passing overhead. I ran outside, pressed “record” on Merlin on my phone and fortunately the bird called twice more as it headed south-west:
An unbelievable garden tick, which continues a fabulous summer for the garden list after recording a Mediterranean Gull over the house last month!
Of course, the challenge still remains to add Tree Pipit to the Lye Valley area year list. This morning, I was probably out a little too early. The forecast looks ideal for Tree Pipit migration over the next week, and with Mark finding another two birds today and a further Tree Pipit being reported over Otmoor this morning by Peerawat Chiaranunt, the early signs are that we are in for a good Tree Pipit year, especially as we have not reached the peak period for migrant birds of late August. Listen for the flight calls and watch this space!