Hi all, first post here so please be nice.
I just heard a bird this evening, I am in in South Oxfordshire and the bird was in narrow strip of woodland, a wildlife corridor surrounded by meadows and arable farmland. We are up on a hill top over looking the Thames Valley and often see strange species passing through the area. I can rule out so many species that I know well but I just can't work out what it could be.
It sounded like a medium to large bird, it was very loud and no chitter chattering or song. It's call was two notes and immediately made me laugh because it sounded like it was saying 'Cool Whip' like Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy). It had the first downward note ''coool" immediately followed by an upward note "whip" that sounded like a 'flick'. This was repeated three times and then silence for 5-10 minutes and then was repeated exactly the same. I have to admit that the type of call was similar to that of an owl, it sounded large and was clearly no songbird.
For the birds I can rule out, I'm 99% sure it wasnt an owl, the style of the call was similar but... And this is where I sound like a weirdo... But I 'feel' owl calls as well as hear them, they have such a distinctive, deep, echoing sound to their calls.. even the shrieks sound like nothing else. I'm way more familiar with the tawney owls that I would like to me, they have spent the last 25 years tormenting me, I don't even know how many generations they have passed this hatred of me down for! Haha, I live in a bungalow and my bedroom face the back garden wish is long horizontally and my room is in the middle. The owls sit, one in a big conifer to the right side of the garden and the other in a big old apple tree and they are always a pair and they start their racket at about 10pm and continue shouting back and forth to each other... Twit-twoo-ing until 4-5am when I'm nearly in tears because I can't sleep through that. They do this most of the year round but far more in the warmer months... So.i can't have my windows open!
Other birds I can rule out-
-Anything small that twitters, chirps and sings eg robin, finches, blue tits or any of that family, blackbirds, thrushes etc
-Birds of prey
-Corvids
-Woodpeckers
-Wood pigeons or collared doves etc
-Any.waterfowl or ground dwelling birds (Sound was coming from up in the trees right behind where I was sitting and resting).
I just cannot figure out what it w at all because having ruled out so many that I know the calls of really well, it doesnt leave many options that fit what I know from the call. I've checked some bird calls online for less common species like cuckoo and nightjar and a bunch of smaller.bird species just I'm case it was a small bird with a big sound but nothing is even remotely similar to what I heard! Think owl type sound but not deep or echoing. Also in broad daylight, not that this means anything much round here! The owls, mainly just the tawnys rather than the barn owls but I've recently that Long Eared Owls are in the area as well! The tawnys make a lot of noise during the day very frequently here as well.
Amy ideas?
I'm not really sure but could it have been a lapwing? Lapwing Bird Facts | Vanellus Vanellus
Yesss!!! Very good! Spot on !
I can't believe that I didn't even consider it being a lapwing as I love them so much and I know they are around although I haven't spotted them yet this year but they nest in the fields all round where I was sitting! Especially as the crops are rotated, fields rested and large sections given over to wildlife, it's a great area for them.
That explains a lot though, the bird probably wasn't in the trees behind me but on the slope of the field behind the trees which is just a strip of woodland about 5-6 trees deep,great mix of native species and loads of hazels in rows in the centre that are coppiced each year. I watched all these trees being planted 20 years ago and wondered why on earth they would want a band of trees across the top of the meadow like that. After Countryside Stewardship course in my teens and my own research it's easy to see how amazing it is for wildlife and gives them cover to move between/past open fields without being exposed. I believe the land is owned by BP, yes the meadow belongs to BP Technology Centre and I have seen them employ tree surgeons and other gardening and landscaping companies to come in and maintain the area. Id love to know more but I already know from past attempts that BP are impossible to get information out of. They also lie so easily I couldnt trust a word they say and they are currently doing all sorts of weird stuff with the meadow, they've cut and rolled flat three huge rectangles in different areas and anyone that has asked is told they are sowing wildflower seeds... They 100% are not sowing seeds that's for sure, I examined the ground today and it's been rolled flat and the grass is dying and there are absolutely no seeds. There are random sandy soil mounds with black ribbed pipe running through it, clearly to do with animals and the location too says so but what on earth? Oh drat, I wonder if they are traps for good or bad! I will have to investigate now. They have also had massive drilling machinery in there and drilled huge deep holes then put plastic fences around them.
I hate people messing with my local area, my environment and wildlife, I'm super protective. I don't know I have the energy to tackle BP but this meadow is the hub of the village really, especially for dog walkers, walkers and families thanks to the public footpaths. So many birds live in and around this meadow, many regulars like the red kites (hundreds of them around here, not even joking), kestrels and a big flock of long tailed tits, magpies and numerous jays and more small bird species too small for me to identify when they won't stay still, a big flock of 30 or so goldfinches who show some fascinating behaviours I've not seen anywhere else, especially when the kestrel is around. I've even seen what I believe was a hen harrier once and that's just some of the birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects are just as abundant!
Lapwing for today's bird call it is then! What a good suggestion! It's so good to know they are back in the area again and have chosen a safer and less open field it seems, they have less trouble there usually as people's off lead dogs can't access it.