Iffley Waxwings,17th December

I had a free day today so after seeing the report of 12 Waxwings down meadow lane yesterday i decided to get on my bike and take a look to see if they were still around today.I rode from one end of meadow lane to the other and back again with no success so thought they must of moved on.So i decided to head back to my parents house and rode up tree lane.As i got to the top of the lane i heard the distinctive waxwing call,i looked up and there they were! They were perched in the top of a large tree, they then decended down into a small berry tree in a back garden easily seen from the crossroads of Tree lane and woodhouse lane and Bear's hedges.

 

I only had my canon 100-400mm on me and the birds looked settled so i decided to ride back to my parents quickly to get the "Back Breaker", jump in the car and drive back.When i arrived they were still present feeding on the berries but only briefly before flying back up into a bigger tree.They soon came back down again so i managed to get loads of pics!

Falcated duck Farmoor 10th December

I must admit that when it comes to ducks i'm not the greatest fan, probably because of all the controversy that go's with an unusual individual that turn's up,so when i had a text about the bird yesterday i didn't drop everything and rush to farmoor.
I decided that if it was still there today i would take a look.Seeing that the Baikal teal has now been accepted i thought it's better to be safe than sorry,you never know what might be decided in a few  years!
When i first got there the bird was on the edge of the reservoir with mallard.The bird was probably about 100m away and if you tried to move closer than this it was the first bird to head for the water and swim out.At one time a chinook flew over and the bird briefly took to the wing, being the only bird to do so!

 

So who know's? the bird was very wary,could it be a genuine vagrant? or were it's previous owners really horrible to it to make it so nervous?! The former we all hope! ;-).

Otmoor 2nd December

A cold and frosty start on the moor this morning .

 

 

 



A Peregrine was seen perched on a post in Greenaways

A male and female Stonechat were seen up by the first screen.
A couple of Water rails were heard calling.
There were flocks of lapwing around with 60+ Golden plover amongst them.
A few snipe were seen flying around.

 

 

A couple of landscape shots of the field on the left hand side of the path between the 1st and 2nd screen.





 

Wildfowl flying in front of charlton on otmoor church.

 

2 of the other churches you can see around the moor.