BBOWT Bird Race - 2nd Dec

My sister since the summer has been working/intern for the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust, and on the 2nd of December they held there annual Bird Race. Now this was something new for me and I promptly said I would be up for it. We met under the shadow of Didcot power station just south of Oxford. 

And although the initial plan for each team was to be captained by a BBOWT Employee, kind of like your birding pro. Our team however didn't have one and we were all complete newbies to the race.

With rules explained (a visit to 3 BBOWT reserves compulsory  and teams decided we were partnered with my sisters fellow intern and his friend (one a policeman an one an ex policeman). Local enthusiasts who knew the area fairly well. So happy to try our best we set off at our own pace, finding several birds on route before stopping just down the road at Odey Hill, a small untouched, unnoticed area of public ground on the outskirts of Didcot that happened to be flooded and have a large area of reed/scrub. This proved to be a little hidden gem as we raced to 30 species. I spotted a Kingfisher flashing by but the rules stated that all team members had to have seen or heard and I was the only one so a little gutted we all were.

The local lads Mark and Nick soon had a plan though, determined not to miss the Kingfisher from our list we headed into the centre of Abingdon, both keen fishermen they assured us that it was a good a spot as any to see  a Kingfisher on the very swollen River Thames. A brief chat with the local fishermen seemed like we had missed out by 2 minutes, but 10 minutes or so later that familiar call caught our attention and we all got a glimpse before it flew off upstream. Local knowledge is still the best I reckon.

From Abingdon we headed to Radley Lakes another untouched gem where we added several different duck species and a rather surprising Blackcap. Well spotted by Mark as he drove us down the single track lane.

With the list starting to resemble something respectable we decided to get the BBOWT reserves ticked off of the list. With visits too Dry Sandford Pit, Parsonage Moor & Lashford Lane Fen - 3 reserves all within 2 miles of one another. Unfortunately neither of these reserves brought anything new to the list, and after making the drive out too Farmoor Reservoir we were a little disappointed to run into another team who had seen a Hawfinch at  Dry Sandford about 20mins prior to us.

Determined not to let that get us down we had a wander around the large expanse of the Farmoor Reservoir, a quite unattractive man made water source, but very good for birds, highlights that included my first ever Slavonian Grebe & a couple of female Scaup.

With the species list getting harder and harder to lengthen we headed off to the nearby Dix Pits which had been mentioned in the morning briefing as a good spot for wintering waterfowl. This proved true with Red-crested Pochard and Pintail added to the list once spotted amongst the throng of hundreds of waterfowl, the adjoining rubbish dump gave a few gull species to the list too.

As time ticked on and the light started to fade a pit stop at Chimney Meadows another BBOWT reserve in the hope of picking up Tree Sparrow failed miserably as none appeared in the gloom at the feeding station. As we headed back to base, we were all pretty happy with our 63 Species for the day as well as our low mileage of just 55.1 miles.

Once all the teams where back lists were discussed, birds seen and missed discussed, we established that out of 8 teams we finished 5th quite respectable I think as we had no guidance and where all bird race virgins. The winners finished with 76 after a successful venture to the distant RSPB Otmoor reserve. 

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable day in landlocked Oxfordshire, and something I would definitely do again next year, from a photographic perspective opportunity's where a bit few and far between due to the nature and rushed aspect of the day.

Species Seen

Sutton Courtney BBOWT Centre

1. Woodpigeon • 2. Blackbird • 3. Redwing • 4. Carrion Crow • 5. Chaffinch • 6. Moorhen

On Route

7. Red Kite • 8. Collared Dove • 9. Magpie • 10. Feral Pigeon • 11. Fieldfare • 12. Great spotted Woodpecker

Odey Hill

13. Starling • 14. Mallard • 15. Grey Heron • 16. Coot • 17.Teal • 18. Blue Tit • 19. Goldfinch • 20. Gadwall • 21. Tufted Duck • 22. Snipe • 23. Wren • 24. Robin • 25. Dunnock • 26. Reed Bunting • 27. Kestrel • 28. Pied Wagtail • 29. Black headed Gull • 30. Mute Swan

On Route

31. Rook • 32. Pheasant

Abingdon

33. Canada Goose • 34. House Sparrow • 35. Kingfisher

Radley Lakes

36. French Partridge • 37. Jackdaw • 38. Cormorant • 39. Blackcap • 40. Pochard • 41. Great crested Grebe • 42. Little Grebe • 43. Herring Gull • 44. Long tailed Tit • 45. Buzzard

Boars Hill

46. Green Woodpecker • 47. Jay

Farmoor Reservoir

48. Greylag Goose • 49. Greenfinch • 50. Goldeneye • 51. Grey Wagtail • 52. Slavonian Grebe • 53. Scaup • 54. Sparrowhawk • 55. Meadow Pipit

Dix Pit

56. Wigeon • 57. Greater Black Backed Gull • 58. Lesser Black Backed Gull • 59. Common Gull • 60. Red Crested Pochard • 61. Song Thrush • 62. Pintail

The only shot I really managed to take.

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Water Vole Aquatics & No.122

With some birthday money from my grandparents invested wisely I think in a new Manfrotto Tripod and Ball Head, I thought I better head out somewhere to road test it. So friday lunchtime I popped down to Rooksbury Mill for a mooch about. The weather was as it has been for weeks pretty undecisive, one minute sunny the other doom and gloom.

A quick scan of both lakes prooved pretty unfulfilling, the normal Mute Swans, Coot, Mallard, Gadwall & Tufted Duck the only inhabitants, so I focused my attentions on the River Anton, as there seemed to be plenty of Water Vole activity. From a good vantage point from the bridge its quite brilliant to watch these little mammals bombing up and down the waterway and running along the top of the faggots aiding the flow.

The bridge proved to also be a pretty good spot for birds, as I added another species to my year list the Whitethroat (No. 122) I had heard 2 different calling males prior to actually seeing him. Decent photo opportunities at a minimum, as for whence emerging in the open, he was bombarded by a male Blackcap, Who seemed pretty adamant to sing a whole lot louder and in-competition with the dozen or so other Blackcaps perched on the riverside branches.

Whitethroat

Female Blackcap

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A New Discovery & 2 Pairs Of Showoffs!

My apologies for a serious lack of updates this week, Work has been pretty manic, and I've had to work late on a few occasions. Which has cut down a serious amount of Wildlife time, how ever I did manage and a couple of hours before and after work on Tuesday down at Rooksbury, on the look out for the 2 Otters that were seen on Monday & Tuesday, no luck, I just got wet.

I did manage to grab 45 minutes around home on Wednesday night, as the sun reappeared through the constant on and off showers. A nice gaggle of Greylag feeding on the shorter grass by the river bank, they seem to quite like this part of the river, as I've seen them there several times. A lone Moorhen also shot across the shorter grass in-front of me, It still amazes me how huge their feet are! They do get up quite a speed! One of the male Blackcaps from the weekend was singing in the branches, just managed to a fire off a couple of shots before he disappeared.

Gaggle Of Greylag

Roadrunner

Blackcap

Now we've been getting a pair of birds visiting the feeders quite regularly since they've been put up, and I wasn't sure about the Identification, not in the sense that I had no Idea just that they were very similar, I have now managed to get a fairly close up, but grainy shot that I can share with you. Its taken a while to distinguish the difference, and the leading factors for my identification is the shape and color of the bill and the call. So I give you the Marsh Tit. Now you can see how viewing from a distance gave me an discernible problem, the difference between Marsh & Willow Tit. But I managed to sit within 10 feet of the feeder, and after viewing and listening Im fairly confident now. So I give you my first ever Marsh Tit.

Garden Marsh Tit

Also whilst waiting for the above mentioned bird, I was distracted by a shadow moving rapidly across the lawn. I look up to discover not one caster of said shadow but two, in the form of Red Kites, the evening sunlight catching the coloring on the birds undersides brilliantly.

Show offs!

To round off a pretty rubbish day yesterday I got home at about 7 pm for Dad to happily rub it in, that I had missed a pair of Green Woodpeckers feeding for about 35 minutes in the sunshine no more than 15 feet from the Kitchen window on the lawn. Gutted with a capital G! And to make matters worse he had a pretty good video to prove it!

Back To Blackcap

With the addition of the Reed Bunting to the garden species list, also a frequent visitor is the Blackcap, I've not seen a female for over a week, but around lunchtime yesterday there where 4 Males visiting the feeders at the bottom of the garden, along with an array of Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit & Great Tit. We only ever seemed to see the Blackcaps on the odd occasion at Apsley, so definitely nice to have some different regular visitors. Great spotted Woodpecker, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff and Song Thrush were also frequent visitors to the garden yesterday.

Thwarted By The Sunshine

As a fair weather lunchtime birder, today's bright orange light was a bit of a blessing as I sat in the office counting down the minutes to my break. Once out and all geared up with woolly hat and gloves, I headed to Anton Lakes perfect on a nice bright crisp afternoon. Not quick enough with the camera to catch the numerous Redwing taking flight around the lakes edge, the bright conditions really highlighting the russet underwing.

Next spotted a new species for the location and my first of 2012. A female Blackcap disappearing into the ivy covered tree. The lakes proved pretty quiet, with only a few Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck & Little Grebe showing at the far end. A quick glimpse of Aqua gave the Kingfisher away as it headed into the overhanging branches on the opposing bank. Both Kestrel & Sparrowhawk giving a good showing on the adjoining meadow.

As I walked around to the far bank, hoping for a good glimpse of the Redwing's I instead stopped pretty sharply as the earlier Kingfisher appeared through the willow wisps 20ft in front of me. Now I know as a photographer the number one rule pretty much is don't shoot into the sun, and there only 20ft before me is a Kingfisher sat on a branch, also perched flush in the middle of the sunlight. Bloody typical, Just my luck I can see I am fast on the way to becoming a moany photographer! I've spent a while bring this photo back to life. Not to bad in the end I guess!

The Shadow Kingfisher