Rediscovering the Joys of Birding
• Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - Weekend outings and a Barn Owl
This weekend just gone I didn't get to go on a serious birding trip so had to confine myself to various bijou tripettes.
To start with I nipped down to Port Meadow for about half an hour to check what was about. There were the usual redshank and ruff, only a single dunlin and about 300 golden plover. There were still plenty of pintails which are very handsome ducks, as well as the usual widgeon, teal, shoveler and gadwall.
That afternoon my 18 month old son L had a party to go to. I dropped him and my wife off and found that I had 2 hours before I had to pick them up so I headed off to Farmoor reservoir. I particularly wanted to check out the wood to the south of FII where some Marsh tits had been seen recently and I'd not been on the country-side walk there before so I thought that I'd give it a go. It was a rather overcast and very windy day and regrettably there were no birds in the wood. Nothing to be seen at Buckthorn nor Shrike Meadow but at Pinkhill there was a kingfisher, 6 gadwall and one tufted duck. I also saw 3 bullfinches on the path leading up to the hide. Walking back along the causeway I saw 3 linnets but very few wildfowl.
The next day we went for a family outing to Blenheim Palace. We went in the Combe gate entrance which we'd not been in before. The troops were rebelling somewhat and were making rather a racket. I incentivised the girls by giving them points according to the rarity of the birds that they saw which could then be exchanged for a treat (chocolate) if they got enough. Together we saw a couple of red kites, a grey heron, 3 fieldfares, loads of pheasants and jackdaws and BH gulls. I heard a jay and a nuthatch both of which I still need for my year list but didn't get to see them.
So not a great weekend from a birding point of view. Monday morning despite the "great storm of 2008" I went on my usual run on the Meadow and through Burgess Field NR. It was there that I saw a barn owl hawking over the fields at close quarters - a great sight. There were also a couple of deer, 3 reed buntings and a green woodpecker. The Meadow itself had the usual redshank and ruff and about 500 golden plover.
Just one addition to the year list:
098: Barn Owl |
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