Sunday 22 February 2015

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.

Sunday 1 February 2015

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