Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - Spot the Ring-Necked Duck!
I wasn't able to get out the previous weekend so I sneaked in several mid-week visits instead: I twice went down to Appleford where a 1st winter Glaucous gull had been reported on the floods. Both times however the bird wasn't present though I later found out that the second time it had been nearby but in a different field. The other mid-week visit that I managed was to Oxford Airport where there had been reports of large numbers of linnets in some set-aside land on the fringe of the air-field. I needed to go that way anyway to drop something off at my accountant's so I decided to stop in there on the way back. There were indeed some good linnet flocks: I estimate up to 100 birds present and I spent some 15 minutes watching them. They seemed rather flighty and I found out why when a male sparrowhawk shot over the hedge in a surprise attack. He wasn't successful this time but I got some excellent views at close quarters.
This weekend just gone I went out on Saturday, with my son L in tow as usual. We went up to Foxcote Reservoir in Bucks where there'd been a Ring-necked Duck reported for some time. I was pleasantly surprised at the nice roomy hide there. L sat in his pushchair quite happily whilst I scanned the birds for the RND. There are a lot of false starts when looking for such a bird amongst a reasonable number of tufted ducks: any duck with windswept "hair" that looks a bit bouffant is seized upon until the tuft is made out behind it. Eventually I did manage to find it - a Lifer for me. I got pretty good views and could even see the white band across it's beak. To celebrate L and I had our packed lunches in the hide. At that point a couple of other birders turned up and I was able to point out the RND to them as well.
Well satisfied with this I thought that on the way home I would stop off at Hillesden (Bucks again) where there'd been some over-wintering Whooper swans for some time. Last time it had been so windy that I'd not been able to ID the birds at the extreme distance at which they can be seen. This time there was still wind but less so. However the birds were behind a hedge and it was not easy to make them out. I did manage to spot one Whooper before they moved out of sight - another Lifer for me though I look forward to getting a better view of one in due course.
So that's five Lifers this month. I'm pleased with this progress though I wonder what it's going to be like in the future once I've picked up all the comparatively easy stuff and Lifers will be more scarce.
Today (Monday) as the floods have been receding now I thought that I would go down to Port Meadow at lunch time to see what was about. I was rewarded with some good views of a flock of ten ruff which had returned to the Meadow now that there were some suitable shallows in which they could wade. Let's hope some of the rarities of last year return there in due course.
My year list is continuing to tick along:
065 Fieldfare
066 Bullfinch
067 Siskin
068 Ring-necked parakeet
069 Goldcrest
070 Rook
071 Red Kite
072 Linnet
073 Grey Partridge
074 Ring-necked duck (LIFER)
075 Kingfisher
076 Green woodpecker
077 Whooper Swan (LIFER)
|
|
Post A Comment!
|
|
About Me
I used to be a birder in my youth but rather lost interest in my teens as other things became more interesting. However recently I've rediscovered this interest and would like to share my sightings and thoughts in this blog.
Friends
|
