Clackers and the Oxon Feather

Sunday 15th December I will be manning the Rushy Common Hide along with that star Oxfordshire birder Clackers when The Lower Windrush Valley Project throws open its doors to the public we will be there from 10.00am until noon and the very knowledgeable  Ebbes partnership will take over followed by the local BTO representative John Melling and what he doesn't know about birding has not yet been invented. Jane Bowley the Lower Windrush Project Officer will be on hand - quite possibly with Mince Pies at the ready. Please make an effort to get along we might all learn something.
The Oxon Feather.

Rave On - Not Today

Found time for a trip to the ridgeway in the White Horse Hill area hoping to clock the Ravens that were about last week when I roamed this way.
No Ravens today but two Bullfinch, two Stonechat,Six Red Kite, one Kestrel, twenty five Fieldfare, two Mistle Thrush and one Jenny Wren were recorded.
The Oxon Feather.

                                         Pretty good rear view of Stonechat   

                                       Fieldfare - posing

                                     Red Kite resting

                        Rushed pic of elusive Bullfinch

                                          Male Stonechat

                                        Stonechat getting the wind up

                                        Long distance shot of Mistle Thrush

                                         Distant shot of Kestrel

                                        The eye of the horse

The Shrivenham wind turbines - good or bad you tell me

                South west from the ridgeway

                     Another Stonechat pic.

  The eye of the white horse looks out over the valley

TITS

OOS has a most interesting speaker Dr Colin Garroway talking about Great Tits - dispersal social structure and genomics. As usual 7.45pm at Stratfield Brake Kidlington Wednesday 11th December I hope you can make it.
Incidentally had some half dozen Long Tailed Tits visit my garden feeders today the first of the season they really are so cute and like the Goldcrest never keep still for more than a split second. Also what I believe is a Pine Ladybird appeared from goodness knows where and joined me as I caught up on my office paperwork.
The Oxon Feather.

Stoned.

I am finding Stonechats in most of the locations I wander into, certainly a change from last year when I think all I found was just one and today there was a male and a female along with one Kestrel, two Cormorant and about one hundred Winter Thrushes split about half and half of Redwing and Fieldfare these birds are not in the numbers I have seen them in previous years and even today the flocks were fragmented and showing in lots of a dozen or so and well scattered along the Thames north of Buckland. A few Starling were mixed in with them and a couple of Grey Heron were in evidence.
The Oxon Feather.

Tipping the Velvet

Great bird today in the form of a Velvet Scoter a really super find by Dave Daniels who found it a short time after an out of county birder had clocked it. I had a delivery of millet to make to Eynsham to replenish the stock of our Tree Sparrow volunteer Sally and en-route called in at the big concrete basin to be met by Lewbelou Lewington who was able to tell me that this was the first VS for some 25 years. Carried on to the small group of birders at the new hide who were watching it out on the water at extreme range nevertheless I had great views of it due to the kind action of Ian Smith as he let me look through his scope.It was a marvellous occasion not least because of the Oxon birders in attendance - we really are blessed with the nicest of folk that watch our county birds and for me this is what makes being an Oxon birder very special. The Velvet One gave a couple of fly pasts once due to a boat getting too near it.
The bird was much too far away for any sort of decent photo but at least King Camera (Roger Wyatt) was in position and I look forward to any snaps he may have got, I left after about half an hour or so snapping a Sanderling and a Rock Pipit although the bright sunlight made even this birds legs look reddish .
After delivering the millet I drove back home but on the way decided to call in on one of our Tree Sparrow sites, but by now the light was failing and apart from startling a Barn Owl this was to be another wonderful day spent birding in Oxfordshire.
The Oxon Feather.

Lot of Snipe seen Today.

Beating Tuesday at Carswell Marsh where the day started with a female Peregrine Falcon winging its way off the top of an electric pylon as we approached in the Landrover.
The Woodcock are back and at least eight were seen and on the flood plain fields south of the Thames circa one hundred Common Snipe were reported by several beaters/guns. A Kestrel was also noted.
The Oxon Feather.

What a cheek that birds really got some neck.

Met up with IS at Farmoor to finally clock the Red Necked Grebe as due to chatting to assorted fishermen last time I managed to miss it and had to settle for an Arctic Skua (that was so tongue in cheek it looks like i've got a mouth full of gobstoppers) Anyway meeting Ian seemed a way of making sure I would get the tick. Dai had told Ian that he'd seen it early on and we started off round the concrete basin full of optimism taking great care to avoid the mess the very many feral geese are leaving on the pathway these days.
We saw three Redshank, one Common Sandpiper, one Gadwall and one Meadow Pipit, but yes! you've guessed it no skulking,hiding, diving, piss taking Red Necked Grebe. The curse of the disappearing rare bird syndrome had reared its ugly head yet again when The Oxon Feather put in an appearance . But do I care ? Not one little bit its just so good to be out and about in the fresh air, although that's being kind to Farmoor as it is a most challenging of places because it always appears bleak, soulless and colder than anywhere else in the county. 
The Oxon Feather.