January 2009
31st
A Red Kite flew past St. Peter's this morning.
25th
An afternoon patchwatch at Port Meadow gave me good views of the escaped female Ring-necked Duck (see Gallery) and a few Great-crested Grebes on the canal. Waders included 2 Redshank, a Ruff, 5 Dunlin and 4 Black-tailed Godwits, and a handful of Pintail were on the floods. I stayed for the gull roost but am still hopeless at identifying Yellow-legged type gulls without seeing their legs! However, there were a couple of candidate Yellow-legged type gulls, one of which had an unusually long bill with a distinct droop to the end - a Caspian? I will probably never know! A couple of Great Black-backed and Common Gulls were also in the roost, with several Black-headed Gulls displaying almost complete hoods.
24th
Travelled to Cambridge for an archery tournament today. 2 Roe Deer were feeding on the edge of the rugby pitch at Iffley Road when I arrived in the morning! I didn't have a good view from the minibus but still managed to see several raptors including some impressive Buzzards, although I missed any Red Kites that may have been around in the usual hotspots.
23rd
A fantastic male Sparrowhawk perched on the roof opposite my window this evening, but flew before I could take a photo. Another group of geese flew over, but it was too dark to get anything on them.
22nd
At Iffley Road this afternoon I noticed some distressed fluttering in a tree. Thinking it was a Woodpigeon, I checked just in case. It was a Woodpigeon... hanging upside down from a branch, as if it had been stuck with quicklime! I was starting to get worried that something was wrong, when it saw me and flew off - it was just being lazy and had given up trying to right itself after falling off its perch!
The other highlight of my afternoon was a Roe Deer in the marshy field behind the sports centre.
20th
A Great Tit outside my window was inspecting an alcove in the wall, which I noticed held some old twigs and 'whitewash'. I'll be keeping tabs on this - a breeding attempt at such close quarters would give me some great photographic opportunities!
19th
A Kestrel was visible from the Zoology department, perched near the edge of the sports field, and 3 geese flew past St Peter's this evening but remained unidentified.
18th
An evening trip to Port Meadow and Burgess Field was more of a bird watching outing rather than serious birding, since it is nice to just relax and enjoy the atmosphere sometimes. I couldn't find the Short-eared Owl which was probably hiding from the crowds of people out walking. A couple of Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit on the floods were nice birds. A dog ran into the flocks of duck and gulls, sending everything up. Though I was disappointed not to see a Peregrine swooping through, the effect was spectactacular in the sunset.
A group of 5 geese, probably Canada Goose flew over St Peter's this evening, and I had very close views of a lovely Goldcrest in a climbing rose this morning.
17th
This morning I took the train to Newbury to twitch the American Wigeon at Lower Farm GP's. It was a bit nippy when I arrived, and repeated scanning of the pits didn't help my fingers! A Green Sandpiper flew over (and later gave good views outside the hide) and a Snipe and a few Siskin called overhead. I headed for the hide to find nobody had seen the bird, and joined them to scan the pit. A Peregrine flew overhead, and it was interesting to watch the behaviour of the Green Sandpiper which crouched low when the Lapwings flew up. A Shelduck and 3 Ruddy Ducks were on the water. I missed a male Red-crested Pochard whilst concentrating on a candidate 1st-winter Bonaparte's Gull, which eventually lifted its head - it was a small Black-headed Gull. Then came those three sweet words: "I've got it"! The hide was quite crowded so I was using my scope in a very difficult and uncomfortable position, but eventually I saw the American Wigeon. A very nice male, though it sadly lacked the green flash of an adult. After taking a few photos I left, seeing 5 Red Kites on the return journey.
15th
The journey down to Oxford gave several good views of Red Kite as usual. A thrush with a conspicuous supercilium, on the verge at the works site on Thorney bypass, was hopefully not a Siberian...!
14th
One final trip to the Long-eared Owl site before leaving for Oxford, this time in the early evening, was again unsuccessful. However, I did see the deer and a fox, and 2 calling Marsh Tits were nice. A large group of Canada and Greylag geese contained a Graylag x Canada hybrid, and Wigeon could be heard somewhere over the bank. Also of note were two Buzzards which set my heart racing when I saw them from a distance, perched on the Long-eared Owls' favourite haunt!
13th
The sluice was well covered today, Simeon doing it in the morning and myself in the afternoon. Not nearly as productive as yesterday, probably because of the milder weather; the highlights were a flyover Siskin, good views of a Woodcock, the usual Kingfisher and Goosanders, and 4 Goldeneye.
A Marsh Tit flew over the house.
12th
There is a theory regarding rarities and their behaviour around the Wash which is based on the idea that birds blown off-course must reorientate themselves, correcting their course before continuing their journey over water so that they will arrive at the correct destination. I applied this theory to the Killdeer which was found yesterday at Saddlebow. It was last seen flying south-west along the river - in the direction of America... and Denver Sluice. I decided to check the sluice in case it was exploring the countryside rather than trying to reach America (in which case it would have flown past the sluice many hours ago!).
It wasn't there, but I had a good time anyway. 19 Tufted Duck, a female Pochard, 5 Gadwall and about 50 Wigeon were on the rivers with about 15 Goosander, but the highlight of my visit was a scattered group of 12 Goldeneye! I can't remember seeing them at the sluice before. Another interesting spectacle came in the form of a large flock of Pintail (over 100 birds) which flew over in the direction of Welney. Two swans which may have been Bewick's were unfortunately a little too distant to clinch. 7 Snipe were in and around the flooded fields and 5 Redshank were on the Ouse. Bullfinch called periodically. I checked the area where the Great Grey Shrike has been seen on several occasions this winter, but no sign. Two Kingfishers flew down the river as I walked back, and on the edge of the village I saw the Japanese Green Pheasant in its usual field.
11th
Another visit to the site was again unsuccessful, although we did have lovely views of one of 4 calling Marsh Tits in addition to the Barn Owl, 2 Kingfisher and several Bullfinch which were all present yesterday.
10th
This morning I visited a secret site for Long-eared Owls. Visit the Trip Reports page on the Young Norfolk Birders site to see what we got up to.
9th
A single Buzzard flew over Denver mid-afternoon. It was also nice to see a charm of Goldfinches alighting on the lavender to feed on the seeds. We put out 5 pieces of stale bread for the Blackbirds, spread about the garden to avoid competition, but unfortunately they didn't seem to share our ideals - one male tried to defend all of them, and probably ended up expending more energy than he got from the bread!
8th
Turns out I got the dates wrong, so I have another week in Norfolk to play with! Today I spent a few hours at Welney WWT. A male Goosander on the Wissey, seen on the journey to Welney, was my first of the year. When we arrived it was odd to see that much of the water was frozen over. This meant that the majority of birds were congregating in the deeper, unfrozen waters at the back. However, the day was not without it highlights. Bewick's Swans were showing quite closely for once, and a Dunlin was foraging on one of the closer islands. However, the highlight was a pair of Bearded Tits which made a brief appearance in the reeds in front of the main hide - a very unusual record for Welney. A Woodcock flew up close to the road on the journey back home.
7th
A walk to Downham Market was unexceptional, although a pair of Collared Doves courting was a fairly unusual sight given the weather and time of year. However, Collared Doves have been recorded breeding in every month of the year - this is one of the biggest keys to their rapid success in colonising Europe.
A frosty morning sunrise over Denver, my last until March. For now, it's back to Oxford and the delights of Port Meadow.
5th
A flock of about 30 Lapwing over Denver this morning. They are moving about more at the moment due to the cold snap causing water to freeze over.
