gareth_blockley
Smile people
Spent the day birding around Oxfordshire today. Had a great day around three main sites in the glorious winter sun we've had today and got a lifer bonus at the end of the day.
A total of 65 bird species with another unconfirmed BOP.
I started early today, got up at 6am to get to Otmoor RSPB for sunrise, the plan being i might see some owls before they hide for the day - but no such luck. Lots of other activity today though with a total of 45 species around here.
Highlights being a single Shelduck, Ruff and Dunlin in with the plover flocks - only seen in flight, two pairs of Stonechats, Bullfinchs - 2M 1F, Water rail heard, c.20 Pintail and a flock of Yellowhammer feeding by the car park.
The BOP in question was a possible Merlin that flushed some Lapwing but when i got a good view of it it disapeared behing a hedge?!
From there i went to a part of the reserve not open to the public where i do some voluntary mammal surveys, here i picked up Jay and Starling making the list 47.
Next stop was Aston Rowant NNR, the plan being that i may be able to find some Brambling and maybe even a Hawfinch, but i guess i was being too hopeful as there wasn't a sniff of either! Got some fantastic veiws of Red Kites which is no suprise at this site, a Great spotted Woodpecker and a huge (c.50 birds) flock of tits with Blue, Great, Long tailed, Coal and Marsh tits which was great to watch.
Now getting to mid-afternoon i decided to head up to Oxford again and go to Dix Pit. Here i thought i could pick up some gulls - maybe even the Glaucous gull thats been around, and see if there were some Red crested pochard about. When i arrived i was amazed by the number of Pintail on site there were at least 100. Large numbers of the commoner gulls but allas no Glaucous - i did get excited over one bird but i really don't think it was it. Round to the other car park i located a flock of c.20 Red crested pochard (lifer) - ive seen them in collections but never in the wild. Also were a few Goldeneye totting up the total for the day to a 65 bird count total.
So there we go another day around Oxfordshire.
Gareth
A total of 65 bird species with another unconfirmed BOP.
I started early today, got up at 6am to get to Otmoor RSPB for sunrise, the plan being i might see some owls before they hide for the day - but no such luck. Lots of other activity today though with a total of 45 species around here.
Highlights being a single Shelduck, Ruff and Dunlin in with the plover flocks - only seen in flight, two pairs of Stonechats, Bullfinchs - 2M 1F, Water rail heard, c.20 Pintail and a flock of Yellowhammer feeding by the car park.
The BOP in question was a possible Merlin that flushed some Lapwing but when i got a good view of it it disapeared behing a hedge?!
From there i went to a part of the reserve not open to the public where i do some voluntary mammal surveys, here i picked up Jay and Starling making the list 47.
Next stop was Aston Rowant NNR, the plan being that i may be able to find some Brambling and maybe even a Hawfinch, but i guess i was being too hopeful as there wasn't a sniff of either! Got some fantastic veiws of Red Kites which is no suprise at this site, a Great spotted Woodpecker and a huge (c.50 birds) flock of tits with Blue, Great, Long tailed, Coal and Marsh tits which was great to watch.
Now getting to mid-afternoon i decided to head up to Oxford again and go to Dix Pit. Here i thought i could pick up some gulls - maybe even the Glaucous gull thats been around, and see if there were some Red crested pochard about. When i arrived i was amazed by the number of Pintail on site there were at least 100. Large numbers of the commoner gulls but allas no Glaucous - i did get excited over one bird but i really don't think it was it. Round to the other car park i located a flock of c.20 Red crested pochard (lifer) - ive seen them in collections but never in the wild. Also were a few Goldeneye totting up the total for the day to a 65 bird count total.
So there we go another day around Oxfordshire.
Gareth
