Stanton park

Another sunny day so took a walk at Stanton park. The first birds I saw were a goldcrest and tree creeper, then on the lake were a male teal, mallards and mute swans. No goosanders today. I made my way round to a bird feeding station with some benches near it, where I joined a couple of  others to take some close ups of garden birds. Saw nuthatches, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, chaffinches and robin. 

bluetit

male chaffinch

coal tit

female chaffinch

great tit

nuthatch

robin

Coate water

Lovely weather so got out to Coate Water. As expected the hides were busy, but managed to find a seat! Highlights from today were  wren, dunnock, greater spotted woodpecker (m and f), robin, bluetits, great tits, long tailed tits, gadwalls, mallard, mute swan, herons, tufted duck, coot, moorhen, shoveler, great crested grebe, goldcrest, chaffinches, kingfisher, cormorant, canada goose, pochard. 

long tailed tits

greater spotted woodpecker

a couple of mallards

mute swan

blue tit

gadwalls ( mand f)

kingfisher

Lower Moor Farm and Blakehill reserves

A lovely day for visiting a couple reserves in the Cotswold Water park today.  I packed up some sandwiches and made my way to Lower Moor Farm. From Hide 1 I saw cormorants, blue tits, great tits, dunnock, bullfinches, wren, robin, chaffinches and reed bunting. From Hide 2 I saw a kingfisher at a distance. There had been some otters around earlier and while I was in the hide someone pointed out one over at the other bank, but I missed it as I was looking at the bird feeding station!  A few photos from Lower Moor farm are below.

wren

dunnock

bluetit

bullfinch

female chaffinch

reed bunting

robin

reed bunting

kingfisher zoomed in!

general view of lake

From Lower Moor Farm I made my way to Blakehill Nature Reserve to  see if I could spot the short eared owls that are hunting there at this time of year, With the aid of some other bird spotters, I managed to locate  at least one at a distance,

distant view of short eared owl hunting

Stanton Park

Went for a quick walk around lake, several bits closed off today so had to take alternative routes.
Birds seen were mallards, moorhen, mute swans, black headed gulls and four goosanders but they flew off before I could get anywhere near for a photo.

swans and mallards

blackheaded gulls

Might try and get similar feeding station made for my garden!

Whelford Pools

I paid a visit to Whelford Pools after a morning at school. Despite putting out some seed and quartered apples, nothing took any interest at either of the hides, so I decided to take a stroll along the footpath around the site.
  I was rewarded by sights of a flock of long tailed tits, 3 bullfinches,  tree creeper, and greater spotted woodpecker.
  As I was returning to the carpark, I pointed my camera towards what I thought were goldfinches feeding on seed heads, then realised that apart from one goldfinch the others were lesser redpolls, a first sighting for me.  
Also saw great tit, blue tit, robin, blackbird, coots, great crested grebe, tufted ducks, cormorant, herring gull, blackheaded gulls, mallards. A few photos are shown below -  my apologies for the  poor quality!

great crested grebe

rear view of longtailed tit

greater spotted woodpecker

tree creeper

tree creeper

lesser redpoll

lesser redpoll

Farmoor reservoir

I have been trying to find a time to visit Farmoor reservoir near Oxford to see some rarer species of water bird. I went there today, although it was cloudy and blowing a gale. The water was very choppy, and  the phalaropes were  no where to be seen, perhaps they didn't like the weather, they have been there for several weeks. However, I did manage to spot the two juvenile great northern divers, although they spent most of the time beneath the water. Also saw one redshank, 2 pied wagtails, great crested grebe, tufted ducks and mallards, and some gulls.

great northern diver ( 1st winter plumage)

Just to prove there were two of them!

bobbing about in the waves

 a lone red shank

rather choppy at Farmoor reservoir ( great northern diver in foreground)

Whelford Pools

Another quick visit to Whelford, I popped into the hide where a couple of chaps told me they had spent the past 4 hours there! Fading light again but did see long tailed tits, blue tits, great tits, wren, a couple of robins, reed warblers, swan, tufted duck, coots, redwing/fieldfare (couldn't tell from that distance).

long tailed tit

view from the hide