The Wood Pigeon Challenge.

King Camera (Roger Wyatt) has thrown down the gauntlet posting on oxon bird log a picture of a Ring-Necked Dove now i'm guessing the king must have had a senior moment, when you consider this is the artist that has given us such great photos as Rough-Legged Buzzard and rare pictures of Oxon Quail, could this be a wind up? I reckon so nevertheless it now remains for the rest of us lesser snipper snappers to take up the challenge and my contribution is the Woodie i've posted today that I snapped up on the downs at Segsbury Camp.
A Yellowhammer looking cold and a bit bedraggled was on the ridgeway above Crockle, the female Kestrel was up at Segsbury Camp and the Red Kite was taken in my garden. Only other significant happening today , at least it was for me, was making the decision to walk the ridgeway without a jacket or coat this tuned out to be stupid in the extreme as I suffered hail stones and a battering from the bitter wind, just remember folks it's worse for me I have to live with me.
The Oxon Feather.

No Reason to put out the Bunting

With time being at a premium lately due to non-birding activities my chances of finding much of interest were slim , and so it has proven to be, nevertheless if you can keep your interest span alive for a few minutes I will let you know the outcome of a brief trip, that took me from S-i-t Vale through Eynsham and skirted Glympton returning via Shellingford Quarry to S-i-t Vale.
I reckon I saw six Buzzard including one showing a lot of white on the rump, staying with Raptors three Kestrel and six Red Kite were noted. Along the Eynsham straight I saw eight Reed Bunting, four Yellowhammer and fourteen Stock Dove. At the Quarry were ten Teal, twelve Tufted, eight Mallard, two Great Crested Grebe, one Grey Heron and four Canada Geese. This was a couple of days ago and although it was quite bright the very cold wind played a game of attempted frost - bite with my fingers.
The Oxon Feather.

                                          Reed Bunting

                                           Distant Stock Doves

                                            Tufted Duck through the herbage

                                          Sleepy-time G-C Grebes

                                                 Red Kite with the sun in its eyes

                     Massy/Fergie  my cousin has recently done up

The Sun Shone - Eventually.

A pleasant walk in the belated sunshine (about 3.00pm before it made it through the fog) between Pusey and Charney Basset, where Buzzard , common resident birds including Wren and Dunnock were in singing form. Best birds seen were a party of twelve Siskin acrobatically working their way through the small cone trees. A pair of French Partridges and a pair of Lapwing both with breeding territory were noted. Stream-side an Ash Tree had succumbed to the strong Winter wind and the incessant rain .
The Oxon Feather.

Yes! my dear, Make an orderly roe now.

Baulking Fullers Earth Pit had some forty Tufted , five Wigeon, fifty Mallard about the same number of Canada's, I guess thirty five Coot and two Great Crested Grebe on the water. In the surrounding hedges and thin woodland were roughly sixty Redwing, oh yeah! and a rather too tame for her own good Roe Deer.

The Oxon Feather.

Knobhead to Comma taking in Rspb.

Over the last few days I have found 5 Shelduck on a partially flooded meadow at Buckland along with at least 1 Curlew, displaying Lapwing and 30 Golden Plover.
This morning a walk round the garden gave me early Butterflies "pumped up" and seeking spring flowers in the glorious sunshine and warm temperature, in ten minutes I saw Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Brimstone and Comma.
Sandwiched in between this was a most enjoyable day at Otmoor and Beckley village hall being entertained but mainly informed, with regard to my and other participants participation in the Upper Thames River Valleys (UTRV) Breeding Wader Surveys. Not only interesting but treated to a couple of bowls of quite possibly the tastiest soup in the county. So my thanks to the friendly and helpful RSPB staff for a most enjoyable day.
The Oxon Feather.

                                         Shelduck with Knobbly Head

                                         Distant Curlew

                                         

                                           and Lapwing

                                          More far - away Knobheads

                                         

                                          and far distant Little Egret

                                         Comma in the garden

Guided by a Greek God.

My mate Bill affectionately known as the Greek God showed me some of the less accessible parts of the Buscot/Coleshill  area that he has access, due to his great rapport with the local landowners.
Just a couple of highlights were nesting Ravens and a nice pair of Pintail.
The Oxon Feather.

Bubble & Creep.

Much better weather today and I even used the bike to pick up my daily ration of bad news (newspaper) from the local Coop. Later I utilised my car as the trip to Buckland was too far in the time I had to get back in time for a 4.00pm appointment.
Although I never saw the Curlew it was unmistakable from the bubbling call these waders make, their song is one of the most welcome of late Winter/early Spring sounds heralding the promise of better things to come although unfortunately in recent times they have struggled to breed successfully with late heavy rain destroying most of their breeding attempts.
Earlier I had delighted in some rather intermittent views of a Tree Creeper as it spiraled and flitted among the trees. Thirty Redwing were resting in a distant tree and a Kestrel caught prey in a nearby field.
The Oxon Feather.

                                       Rainbow on the Ridgeway - A couple of days ago.

Any Idea ?

Add caption