Long Johns !

I've been thinking about the comical birding situations birders have found themselves in, and so far this year we have the Wickster frantically running/fast walking/hobbling to twitch something or other and making Charlie Chaplin look amateurish , it's on film probably with either the Gnome or the Badger, also NH so kindly portrayed on film (by his great friend? Lew) in front of the AGM audience in his long johns on a particularly freezing cold twitch for a Gull (yawn yawn) This gives me an opportunity to thank the top rate birders of Oxfordshire for being so patient when answering the many and often innane barrage of birding questions I continue to fire at them, so take heart if you feel lacking in your birding knowledge and draw inspiration from my ineptitude, I mean if I can get by and find so much enjoyment out in our Oxfordshire countryside it should be a doddle for the rest of you.
Alan Larkman and I were active in the Eynsham area yesterday on one of our farmland bird sites and noting good numbers of insects on the wing again, also several Whitethroats were prominent and a nice pair of English Partridge were noted.
The Swift man of Oxfordshire Roy Overall visited my shack yesterday and asks if you find a Swift grounded refrain from aggressively throwing it in the air but gently lay it along your hand and after a short time it will find buoyancy under its own power. I told Roy about a rambling old house in Stanford-in-the-Vale that has possibily as many as four pairs of Swifts nesting in or under the roof, the tenants Emma & Ralph are aware of at least another five sites in the village where Swifts are active.

Corn Bunting

camboy