Lighthorne and Hampton Wood - Wellies essential

Sunday morning I would say that I jumped out of bed on such a fine day.  Instead, I kind of rolled out and left my birder's wife still comotosed.  First location was Oakley Wood.  Unfortunately, at that time and due to the fine weather, the wood already had a couple of dog walkers not keeping their dogs under control.  I therefore opted for a quick circuit close to the main entrance car park.  The pines held a lot of singing Goldcrests and despite my efforts in trying to turn them into Firecrests they just would not oblige.  I therefore had to settle with a few Goldcrests, Marsh Tits and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Next stop was Lighthorne ponds.  This is a new location that I had only been to once before a couple of weeks previously.  Upon arrival, there were some Canada Geese, a few Mallard and some Coots on the main pond.  The footpath round the pond, following a stream and into a wooded area only held Great Tits and Blue Tits and the North facing field as the footpath came out of the trees had a calling Chiff Chaff.  As I walked my way past more of the ponds, I would have hoped for something special, I obviously was being too greedy and had to contend with some resplendent singing Reed Buntings, a couple of Yellowhammer and Skylarks in the nearby fields.  It was not until I almost reached the end of the row of ponds that I came across anything more unusual, a Green Sandpiper took flight and as I continued walking to the next pond, another one flew up.  I then came across a couple of Pied Wagtails and a Grey Wagtail bobbing along on the mud and on my way back to the car got views of a lovelly female Bullfinch and a very obliging Buzzard.

Buzzard

Great Tit

Late afternoon, I managed to drag my birder's wife out for a brief walk around Hampton Wood.  We went via Wellesbourne Airfield to see if any Wheatears were around but alas there were none.  Hampton Wood fortunately was quiet and we bumped into only one other person.  The bird feeders were humming as per usual with loads of Great Tits, Blue Tits, a Nuthatch and one Coal Tit.  The bushes nearby held one Chiff Chaff, several Chaffinch and 2 Long Tailed Tits.  The surrounding fields still had at least 30 Fieldfare and the river still looked fairly swollen and held its usual Mute Swans.