Yet more Fieldfare

Yet more Fieldfare in our garden today (pics below).Also, we had one solitary Redwing today briefly but no sign of our Reed Buntings and Blackcap.  In fact, there seemed to be quite a lack of anything on our feeders except for the occasional House Sparrow.  The roving Goldfinch flock that patrols the estate seem to be ignoring my Nyger seed, so maybe all the smaller birds are obtaining food from surrounding gardens - well, I hope so.

More Fieldfare

On opening the curtains this morning I was confronted with 6o Fieldfare in the trees at the bottom of the garden - a brilliant sight.

We took a walk across fields up to Budbrooke, met up with the Capt and then spent some time round a farm entrance with barns etc in the hope of picking up on a finch flock but only managed 3 Yellowhammer and some House Sparrows.  When we arrived home the Fieldfare flock had ventured closer to the house and were on the ground underneath our feeders and we then spotted our first Blackcap for the year.  No sign though of the Reed Buntings from yesterday.

Garden Birding

After a hairy journey back home early this afternoon, I took a quick walk round the fields nearby and noted many Fieldfare and Redwing which have flown into the town seeking food and refuge from the weather.  Beside the thrushes, there was not much else to see, so I settled myself down in front of the kitchen window and watched the many birds that were taking advantage of my refilled and overflowing feeders.   Birds seen this afternoon from my window included Starling, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Redwing, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Magpie, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Reed Bunting, flyover Black Headed Gull and surprisingly a single flyover Snipe.

Otmoor and Farmoor

We had to take one of visitors home today and took the opportunity to go via Otmoor, The Old Boot and Farmoor.

When we arrived at Otmoor, we only just managed to squeeze into the car park, everyone else had obviously had the same idea as us, to go for a walk on this crisp winter day.  We concentrated for a quite a while round the feeders after hearing a Brambling call from nearby bushes.  However, despite our efforts we could not locate the bird.  It had possibly been scared off by an overhead Sparrowhawk or the hordes of photographers wanting to get that ever closer shot of a finch.   A quick stomp round the reserve produced nothing really of interest despite a fleeting glimpse of a Ringtail Hen Harrier and several Red Kites.

As lunchtime was approaching, we drove over to the other side of the A34 to the Old Boot in Eynsham which never fails to impress with its food and boot collection.  After lunch a brief trip to Farmoor gave us a wonderful close view of a Slavonian Grebe and an adult Caspian Gull in the pre gull roost.

Upton Warren

I knew that today would be a good day when I opened the front door and saw 150 or so Lapwings flyiing high over the house.

We have friends staying with us this weekend who are fellow birders and we decided to have a relaxed day birding at Upton Warren.

We arrived at Midday after having a hearty brunch and made our way to the Flashes which were considerably quiet.  The bird feeders held a pair of Bullfinches and many Reed Buntings and the flashes had 4 Shelduck, Teal, Lapwing, Black Headed Gull and one Lesser Black Backed Gull.  These were all disturbed by a Peregrine passing overhead high.

We then moved onto the Moors Pool to the far hide which held all the activity with many Snipe and Lapwing and Curlews.  However the star was an amazing Jack Snipe who gave us a good show by bobbing along before going to sleep - A new species for all 4 of us.  We could have stayed there for a lot longer but the cold got the better of us and we moved to the hides nearer the car park where we watched the activity round the feeders including two rats doing their best to try and reach one of the hanging seed dispensers.  A quick visit to Water Rail Hide gave us an obliging Water Rail and we then headed home via Webbs and a cup of team.  A very successful days birding albeit a bit nippy.

This Weekend

This weekend, we mainly spent in North Warwickshire....

Yesterday, after receiving money for Christmas, we decided to take the opportunity to travel up to North Warwickshire to upgrade my binoculars at Focus Optics.

En route, we took in Lea Marston and Shustoke, firstly missing the Long Tailed Duck at Lea Marston but managing to find two Great Northern Diver at Shustoke (both were at the east end trying to avoid the sailing that was occuring).  After securing my new pair of bins and handing my old pair to my birder's wife, we returned home via Lea Marston but still could not find the Long Tailed Duck there.

Today, we took the Capt up to North Warwickshire with us and visited Lea Marston again and finally managed to connect with the Long Tailed Duck, along with a female Scaup and a Whopper Swan just up the road.

A quick trip to Brandon on the way home gave us our first owl of the year (Barn) plus a Tawny hooting in the distance.

First Bird of 2013

And the winner goes to....Starling, about 15 of them fighting over fat balls in the garden.

As it proved to be a clear and bright day, I decided to take my birder's wife down to Slimbridge to see the spectacle of the Lapwing and Golden Plovers constantly taking flight as Peregrine Falcons attacked them.  An awe inspiring sight indeed.

In fact, the visit was not purely to watch the above display but also to try and retrieve one of my favourite gloves that I had lost there on Saturday.  Alas, it was not to be so, however, on the way down to Gloucestershire I popped by a layby where I had lost a lens cap a month ago and found it - result!

Although a nice place to go for the first birding trip of the year, Slimbridge was absolutely heaving today with some hides being almost three deep with birders starting off their new year lists.  Myself and my birder's wife took it easy and went where there were no corwds as we felt a bit like the below chap.....yawn!