Corn Bunting at Shellingford Quarry.

Although the wind blew strongly as its often possible to find sheltered parts I popped down to Shellingford Quarry today Wednesday 13th on the off-chance of finding Dragonflies , Butterflies and look for any Waders that might now be starting to come through. No Waders but a nicely posing Corn Bunting a bird not often seen in this area.
A large number of Red-Eyed Damselflies were active far out on the water and because the wind was so strong it made the camera unsteady resulting in very poor photos. Common Darter were about along with what I think was possibly a now getting on the late side Black-Tailed Skimmer.
Only other birds I saw were about one hundred Mallard bobbing about on the wave crested water stirred up by the high wind, and in a nearby field being cultivated were a lot of Gulls I think they were predominantly Lesser-Black Backed but must admit to only a passing interest as I headed back home.
The Oxon Feather. Addendum - Steve Burch has kindly informed they are Small Red-Eyed Damselflies

                                          Corn Bunting

                                            Common Darter

                                      Small Red-Eyed Damselfly

                                           Small Tortoiseshell

                                           I think Black-Tailed Skimmer

                                           Common Darter

                                          Common Blue

                                           Red-Eyed Damelfly

                                           Bunting in a bush

There is not as much of Dai these days.

Had a stroll round the big concrete basin that is Farmoor Reservoir, I guess it was around mid afternoon time, so not much about hence the poor photos depicting just Cormorant and Common Blue Butterflies. Would have included Dragonflies if only they would have kept still for a short while. Met that Farmoor stalwart the marvellous Dai John who has been on a fat stripping diet and now cuts a slim rugged shape, in fact I wasn't too sure if I was looking at him or his dog Billy but it soon became apparent which was which by who was in charge - yeah! you guessed it the dog was in charge. Dai was with a mate Dave Daniels another Farmoor regular and like Dai, Dave is always a pleasure to meet. As I walked the causeway back to the car park a piping sound alerted me to a Common Sandpiper , no doubt winging in, to spend the night on the reservoir.
The Oxon Feather.

                                         Cormorant- The fishermans friend. I don't think.

                                         Male Common Blue

  Female Common Blue. below Little Egret one of 4 at Rushey Common Tuesday.                                               

Baby Bunting Daddys Gonna Hunting.

Grabbed an hour or so south east of Childrey and photographed this Corn Bunting presumably about to feed its offspring with the insect you can clearly see in its large bill.
Moved on to Seven Barrows where there were a tremendous amount of the pretty Common Blue Butterflies.
The Oxon Feather.

Washed Out.

A walk through The Warren close to Gainfield Crossroads Threw up a few Dragonflies but not the Silver-Washed Fritillary my target species that had been prominent on another recent visit there, I have no idea why they were not flying as the conditions seemed ideal. It was good to get Small Copper in compensation as this small Butterfly is always a delight to find, but another trip to photograph Silver-Washed Fritillary is on my agenda and I remain hopeful they will be more compliant, and keep still when they settle, giving a chance of  a half decent photo.
The Oxon Feather.