Ben Sheldon

@sheldonbirds

Ornithologist and Evolutionary Ecologist at the University of Oxford - natural history, science, cycling

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Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· 13d

Back to Farmoor this evening, where yesterday's 3 Dunlin had been joined by a super adult Little Stint. Feeding very actively, and as so often here, allowing exceptionally close views.

Adult Little Stint at Farmoor, Oxfordshire, 29 July 2026. Bird is standing in the midst of turbulent water breaking on the reservoir bank.

Adult Little Stint with 3 Dunlin at Farmoor, Oxfordshire, 29 July 2026. Bird is standing in the midst of turbulent water breaking on the reservoir bank to the right, with the three Dunlins (from left, adult, juvenile, adult) a little further back.

Adult Little Stint at Farmoor, Oxfordshire, 29 July 2026. Close-up of the bird's head, neck and upper body as it probes in shallow water with its slender, slightly decurved, black bill.

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· 13d

Temperature profile from the meteorological station on roof of Oxford Physics this year (eodg.atm.ox.ac.uk/eodg/weather...) - really feels like a phase change in mid May - average daily temperature before & since have hardly overlapped. Currently heading into our *fourth* >30 C period this year

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· 14d

Lovely fresh juvenile Dunlin at Farmoor this evening - wonder where this hatched? Autumn wader season well underway.

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· 15d

Quite sad about this - someone with so much talent and the author of surely the funniest ever book about birding, including this classic account of seawatch dialogue, surely recognisable to anyone www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio... Bill Oddie, naturalist and broadcaster, dies aged 85

Text from Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book (1980) describing dialogue during a seawatch:

"Diver!" "Where??" "Flying west." "Which is west?" "Right." "So it's flying left to right?" "Yes." "How far out?" "I daren't take my telescope off it." "Try to pin point it." "Can you see the boat?" "There's hundreds of boats!" "A red boat." "Yes. A big red boat?" "No. A little red boat." "A little red boat, with a green sail?" "Yes." "I've got that." "Well it's gone passed that." "How far past?" "Have you still got the boat?" "The little red one?" "With a green sail?" "Yes." "OK, come past that... keep going right and you'll see a kittiwake." "On the water ,or flying?" "On the water." "There's fifty kittiwakes on the water!" "OK, second kittiwake from the left." "That's a Common Gull." "No; next to the Common Gull." "OK. I've got it. A Kittiwake, next to a Common Gull." "Right, now, go eleven o'clock from that, and you'll see a buoy." "I can't see a buoy." "Eleven o'clock from the kittiwake. A small boy- swimming." "That's not a boy. It's a girl!" "Oh yes. And she's not swimming. She's drowning!" "Never mind that, have you got her?" "Yes." "Right then. Count one... two, three...er...ten,eleven....twelve...twenty-five,twenty six,twenty-seven...er,er....thirty three, thirty four,thirty-five waves to the right, and there's a bit of drift wood, with a Great Northern Diver flying over it..... Now!" "Er.... I've got the boat!"

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· 16d

Popped down to Churn on the Berks/Oxon downs this evening; thrilled to see the lingering 1st-summer male Montagu's Harrier (hatched in UK in 2025) come in over the ridge for a fly-around in the last bit of daylight. Superb to watch the bird in the landscape & hope they might one day recolonise here.

Montagu's Harrier silhouetted against the evening sky on the Berkshire Downs

First summer male Montagu's Harrier over stubble field. The bird is ash-grey with chestnut streaks on a paler breast and belly and black wing feathers also visible.

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· 19d

Its preference for sitting on the hedge that lies exactly along the border has led to many deep discussions about exactly how county boundaries are defined & what constitutes seeing the bird in Oxfordshire. Is it enough that the bird is, or does the observer have to be in the county too?

Map of the Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire border. The Long-tailed Shrike has often been sitting more or less exactly at the intersection of the boundary (runs to to bottom) and the bridleway running left to right

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· 23d

Quite a surprise this morning when this Long-tailed Shrike was refound nearby in Gloucestershire - only the 3rd British record. Feeding actively on large insects caught by sallying down to the ground. Very close (~200m west) to the Oxfordshire border - will it cross over?!

Long-tailed Shrike perched against sky in a Blackthorn

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· 25d

Quail records on BG in last month - may have hit limit of what it will display...

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· 29d

Day 10 of the current heatwave in Oxford - and the third since late May. Seemingly continuing for at least a week more. Exceptionally grim - at least the nights are a bit cooler just now

Plot of temperatures from the meteorological station on the roof of Oxford Physics dept for the 60 days leading up to 13 July. Black line shows average with coloured bands showing the daily variation. Three major peaks well above 30 C - one in late May, one in late June, and current one.

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Jul 5

What do you reckon to this one?

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Jul 2

Nice day out in West Wales today. Stonechat, Chough and a funny little blue heron

Male Stonechat with food for recently fledged young

Adult Red-billed Chough feeding on short coastal headland grass

Western Reef-Heron, adult in flight, Gann Estuary, Pembrokeshire 2 July 2026

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Jun 26

Just as the heatwave starting to break in Oxford, this adult Temminck's Stint was a surprise find by Andy Last this evening along the causeway at Farmoor: a brief stop before flying off high to the East just before sunset

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Jun 26

Live meteorological data from the roof of @oxfordphysics.bsky.social has been a very useful site this past week - really captures the brutal overnight heat, and particularly this morning where 28˚C already by 9am (times on fig are GMT) eodg.atm.ox.ac.uk/eodg/weather...

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Jun 13

Thanks to Jonas Waldenström for showing me round Ottenby Bird Observatory today - I was last here 32 years ago. A singing Blyth’s Reed Warbler in the garden and a quick drive of the Heligoland trap caught , of all things, a Great Tit!

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Jun 13

Visiting Öland today - special feeling to handle a Collared Flycatcher again after a 25 year gap!

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Jun 11

Heligoland & Falsterbo both seen from the plane to Denmark today. Not quite migrants’ eye views…

Two islands in a blue sea from plane window.

Distant view of coastal peninsula across the sea from plane window

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Jun 10

OK - I have to admit this is a pretty cool-sounding title. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Jun 6

In gloomy weather like today, Farmoor is a great place to see Swifts, with at least 150 present late afternoon. Despite rain, cold and wind, some of them obviously finding many insects with crops swollen with stored insect prey.

Common Swift, low over water, Oxfordshire June 2026

Common Swift, against background of water, Oxfordshire June 2026

Common Swift Oxfordshire June 2026 - crop at base of swollen with insects

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Jun 1

Handy little Merlin hack: if you suspect rarity but it’s not coming up, maybe because algorithm says out of range, try changing location to more plausible one. E.g. a recording from Brussels late April: location set as Oxford vs Brussels results in Short-toed Treecreeper appearing/disappearing

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· May 27

Or here's another, more recent, assessment using a wider range of impacts - £265Bn/year. www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/sites/defaul...

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· May 27

A long account in @lrb.co.uk by Stefan Collini of the causes of what feels like a death spiral for UK Universities. Recent estimates are that UK HE contributes >£130Bn annually to the UK economy, resulting in >750 000 jobs across all regions of the UK lordslibrary.parliament.uk/higher-educa...

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· May 26

Cloud dynamics over @dunnschool.bsky.social in this afternoon’s hot weather - watched this Cumulus congestus cloud actively bubbling up - looked away (I do work occasionally…) and 5 minutes later it had almost dissolved away

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· May 25

Did you ever see the BBC version? www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxEq...

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· May 25

A Painted Lady nectaring in the garden this morning - wonder where this has come from & where it’s headed… Big migration of these underway this year

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· May 23

Many of my group round for dinner last night on a beautiful evening to wish @andreaestandia.bsky.social & @nilomr.bsky.social well as they move back to Spain. Both of them did DPhils here then postdocs & brought so much to Oxford & @egioxford.bsky.social in terms of science, culture & friendship

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· May 16

Four Dunlin along the causeway at Farmoor this evening. The 'bread-and-butter' of spring passage waders but each one a small marvel. Always enjoyed cataloguing the variation in these - I think all schinzii-type - but quite a lot of variation in scapular pattern/colour & extent of streaking

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· May 2

Exciting bit of migration this evening when I dropped in to look at Farmoor after the band of heavy rain to find it flat calm, with brooding clouds, and first 8, then 15 Black Terns came in from the South, circled the reservoir calling, then disappeared up into the clouds heading North East

Farmoor Reservoir, Oxfordshire, looking SW

A group of 15 Black Terns against a slate grey sky over Farmoor Reservoir 2 May 2026

Part of a group of 15 Black Terns over Farmoor Reservoir 2 May 2026

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· May 1

Terrible photo of a very much desired bird: a Little Tern at Farmoor this evening that lingered long enough for me to see it. Kept its distance fishing out in the middle of the reservoir: usually these are very brief & this is the first I've managed to see in Oxfordshire.

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Apr 30

Having been away since Sunday, it was good to catch up with the Black-winged Stilt at Otmoor this evening - feeding actively in some of the new scrapes created here. Has been a good spring here for Oxfordshire with this bird only a stone's throw from the American Golden Plover less than 2 weeks ago

Ben Sheldon@sheldonbirds· Apr 26

Dusk at Otmoor yesterday - almost at the end of another county Big Day by bike. Hot, still, weather great for cycling but not the best for bird diversity. Still managed a team total of 115 species with @tombedford.bsky.social @tmbirding.bsky.social & Max B covering 162km by bike & 15 on foot