First nest of the year

Last Tuesday, thanks to the good whether and clear sky I decided to go to the oxford botanic garden. First I set up a spot where I could just wait and after I while the wildlife started to settle back down and get closer. The first bird ton catch my eye was a long-tailed tit, taking lichen and moss into a gorse bush. after they had left I went to investigate. It was a small hollowed out ball thing, made out of spiders' webs, lichen, etc... It had probable been started last week or the week before but when finished should have a roof. Among the nest found, there was a magpie nest, with an impressive half dome over the top, and a blackbird nest (no eggs yet). No nests or birds were disturbed. In among this searching, I also saw:

Blue tits

Great tits

Coal tits

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

Greenfinch

Nuthatch

Canada geese

Greylag geese

Mallards

Gooseanders

Black-headed gulls

Jackdaws 

Crows

Magpie

Dunnuck 

Robin

Wren

Goldcrest

Moorhen

There was also a fox that ran about 2m away from some undergrowth. It was a bit of a shock!!!. It looked though, like there had been a badger there the night before, because of some fresh prints. I got a few films and stills.

Oxford Botanic Garden

Yesterday I went to the Oxford Botanic garden for a brief visit, to do the Big Garden Birdwatch, It started off well, with 3 GOOSEANDERS and soon there were song thrushes, woodpeckers, redwings and nuthatches. But there were more Canada geese then there were species, over 100. The Gooseanders were also quite a sight, as they were unusually tame and didn't mind me getting within 4m of them. This meant that I could get some decent pictures of the stunning two males. Once I had gone round the garden I went through the meadow were there was a huge flock of Redwings flying through the trees, occasionally coming down to the ground for food.

Wildfowl

Mute swan - 2

Greylag goose - 2

Canada goose - 100

Mallard - 17

Goosander - 3

Moorhen - 5

Koot - 2

Heron - 1

Birds of Prey

Red kite - 1

Gulls

Black-headed gull - 35

Pigeons & Doves

Woodpigeon - 5

Collard dove - 2

Woodpeckers

Green woodpecker - 1

Great spotted woodpecker - 1

Thrushes

Song thrush - 2

Mistle thrush - 3

Redwing - 45

Blackbird - 7

Tits

Great tit - 5

Coal tit - 2

Blue tit - 7

Long-tailed tit (Ally) - 4

Corvids

Magpie - 2

Jay - 1

Carrion crow - 6

Finches

Chaffinch - 3

Greenfinch - 5

Goldfinch - 25

Wagtails

Grey wagtail - 1

Pied/white wagtail - 1

Other

Wren - 3

Goldcrest  - 1

Robin - 3

Dunnock - 5

Pheasant - 1

Nuthatch (caesia) - 1

Treecreeper - 2

Starling - 5