Not Cholsey, But!

14^th Feb.

A 1^st winter Oriental Turtle Dove has been found in a Chipping Norton garden. News of the bird was released today and will probably attract some 1000+ twitchers.

It is of the sub-species “orientalis” of which there have been only 3 records in the UK. There have been 9 records of Oriental Turtle Dove in the UK and most have been of the sub-species “meena”. This is the first time this species has been recorded in Oxfordshire.

This bird was first seen in mid December of last year but did not come to light until our county bird recorder (Ian Lewington) was shown some photographs of the bird but unfortunately it was not seen again until it turned up in another garden in the town and the owner happened to be a bird watcher.

This bird should be wintering in South East Asia but has done a reverse migration and arrived in the UK. They are very hardy birds and it obviously has survived our winter. They breed in the Central Siberian Taiga, east to Kamchatka, China and Japan.

Please see the Oxon bird log for further details.
http://oxonbirding.blogspot.com/

Don’t believe all that you read in the national press in reference to this bird and the circumstances!

A couple of photos taken thru the patio windows.