December 24, 2008
Port Meadow Birding
... to steal the title of a fellow Surfbirds blog. For the first time in yonks I returned to Oxford for a social weekend, pulling a few strings to get free accommodation in the penthouse suite at Merton College - nice!
I persuaded my non-birding friends to go for Sunday lunch in the Perch pub, along the Thames towpath and adjacent to my old local patch of Port Meadow. This meadow is flooded in winter (and to varying extents for the rest of the year), and holds a surprising number of birds given its proximity to the city (and the disturbance that this entails).
Masses of Wigeon and Shoveler contained smaller numbers of Pintail. A couple of hundred Lapwings were present, with smaller numbers of Dunlin and Golden Plover amongst them.
The south end of the flood had a mixed group of Black-tailed Godwit and Ruff - I couldn't see the reported Spotted Redshank, although I did only have bins with me.
Nothing too unusual among the resident goose flock, save for some ugly hybrids. In previous years it has held single 'gone feral' White-fronted and Pink-footed Geese.
A riverside Treecreeper.
Greenfinch (pictured) and Goldfinches were sitting in the trees by the Walton Well Road entrance; earlier in the morning I had seen a couple of Siskins in the University Parks.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Posted by rjhall at December 24, 2008 7:16 PM