North West of Bampton.

Managed to fit a walk in close to Bampton today probably only three miles and the birdlife was very ordinary, so apart from a Heron searching for a meal in the water meadow close to the village and again good numbers of Finches the only other birds of interest were three Warblers seen very briefly at different locations hiding so well I will not even hazard a guess at naming them, also a  kestrel playing the breeze as it floated on air looking for a victim. The countryside presently seems full of Wood Pigeons that flap away at frequent intervals many feeding on the left over seeds of the recently harvested Oil Seed Rape.
Found Hemlock still in flower and Lesser Burdock also what I thought was Jack-Go-To-Bed-At-Noon (Goatsbeard) but the leaf looked wrong so it will require another trip to satify my mind. Insects on the Burdock , Thistle and Yellow Flower (possibily Goatsbeard) I think are Hover Fly and White - Tailed Bumblebee .

Wet & Bedraggled Stock Dove from yesterday

Meadow Brown

Lesser Burdock

Hemlock

Hover Flies ?

White -Tailed Bumblebee on Thistle

camboy.

Impossible for the Otmoor Cuckoo to emulate.

Or at least at this stage in its development. The juvenile Goldfinch in my garden photo has perched on the adults back demanding grub, I guess if the Otmoor Cuckoo attempted to do the same the result would be a crushed Reed Warbler.
Trying to find time to get down to the Gnomes patch (Port Meadow) the birds showing up and lingering is rather exciting for this time of year all due no doubt to the high flood levels and of course the Gulls are there because several superb Oxon  tip sites have been made unfriendly and the waste food mainly goes for composting now.

camboy

You Slimy Sod !

No  Not you ! But this Garden Snail dashing across the lawn this morning making faster progress than some of our competitors in the games, thank goodness we managed to grab a couple of golds it was becoming embarassing.

camboy

Darting About.

Saw a Peacock Butterfly today possibily the only one i've seen this topsy turvy year, it seemed aware of my presence and flew deeper into the tall grass and gave no chance of a photo, it eventually surfaced and flew quickly out of range. Snapped a Common Darter Dragonfly probably a recently emerged individual and a White Egret always a stunning bird to come across, and the now usual flocks of mixed finches several of these species have done well in the last couple of years including Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Linnet and two of the Buntings Reed and Yellowhammer, it's heartening to say the least that out of the devastation of modern agriculture and ridiculous amounts of Pheasants plonked in the countryside a few birds are coping although the likely truth is that these are species that visit garden and wildlife feeding stations, whereas some such as the Warblers continue to struggle.

Common Darter

Little Egret

Yellowhammer

cam boy

"Common but cute" As the Bishop said to the Actress

Shellingford Quarry turned up a couple of butterflies a rather attractive Gate keeper and a common Ringlet, birds were about but once again nothing out of the ordinary A Green Woodpecker plus an assortment of Finches including Gold, Green, and Chaff. The flora was represented by Fleabane and among others Ragwort with a Cinnabar Caterpillar feeding on it.
My first stop had been filling up feeders for our Tree Sparrows as our volunteer Albert is away on holiday and I missed his charm and gentle Irish brogue. By the way Albert puts in a fair bit of time on the Oxon Water Voles and also helps Pat Wixey with his Barn Owls we are so grateful for the selfless effort of people like Albert.

Fleabane

Cinnabar on Ragwort

Tall Melilot

Camboy.                                 Tree Sparrow chicks waiting to be fed          

Thrush! What Thrush?

I have some video footage of  a Song Thrush Thrice repeating its glorious song as the Bard proclaimed but can not seem to get it to upload, so i'm unable to share it with you- but don't fear I will eventually master it although it may need the help of others, not that I intend to gnome them as I have no wish to Badger them.
A trip out to the more westerly reaches of our Tree Sparrow feeding area resulted in a Linnet perched briefly on wires alongside the road today.

camboy

Subbuteo.

Adult Male Hobby

Adult Female Hobby

Hobby Youngster

And Another

An invitation to witness the ringing of  three young Hobby was gratefully accepted these wizards of flight are best described as local and by no means common. Because some idiot gunners shoot them on the misunderstanding that they are a significant destroyer of gamebirds merely illustrates the ignorance of a minority of shooting folk who associate all raptors as an intrusion on the wholesale destruction of game when of course the very game birds they try to protect are the introduced and alien species particularly  the Pheasant. I'm sure you will understand why it is important to keep Hobby nest sites secret but nevertheless I am able to show you a few pics I took during the ringing of these three chicks and hope you feel some of the excitement and privilege I was party to.
camboy