Beating- A bit of Bully

It was beaters day at Carswell Marsh today and I could have taken my twelve bore along and had a shot or two but I find no pleasure in killing animals for fun in fact it seems wrong. Nevertheless I have many friends who do shoot and it is for them to live with their own conscience, and so in the interests of access to a pretty good site I took part wandering and then standing on stop for several hours with of course camera and bins at the ready.
A party of Bullfinch some half dozen in number were feeding on Ash Keys and also noted were four Buzzard, three Red Kite, four Hares, one Roebuck assorted small flocks of Fieldfare and another beater expressed his disappointment that I was unable to photograph the pair of Tawny Owls that he had good close views of due to my being on a different part of the marsh.
The Oxon Feather.

 Bullfinch

 Roe deer at full pelt.

Is it the Light - somethings not Right!

A photo of a Roe Deer taken at Buscot just the other day looks very pale, but of course it is probably just the light playing tricks with me. A look at Shellingford Quarry Sunday was only notable for the two hundred and fifty or so Teal that sprang into the air and whistled round and round until I left whereupon they then quickly settled to carry on doing what they had been previously doing.
A party of some eight Long-Tailed Tits enthusiastically worked the nearby hedges searching for a little Winter sustenance but as usual they did it in their perpetual motion manner.
The Oxon Feather.

Why oh Why ?

Why oh Why?
I get rather irritated each winter when I see those destructive hedge gobbling chopping machines let lose on our countryside by thoughtless farmers. I guess the most remarkable aspect of this nonsense is  these "guardians of the Countryside" invariably choosing the sight of hordes of starving winter Thrushes arriving to start "tidying up" the hedgerows, bashing as many life giving berries into oblivion before they have had the chance sustain both Redwing, Fieldfare and all those other small insect eaters that if given the chance would continue their previous habit of daily grazing these same hedgerows of overwintering insect life in all its developing forms.
The Oxon Feather.
                                                          It's Tough being A bird in the Winter.

Along the old Cote Road

A quick trip in the car along the Cote back road gave me an opportunity to check the fields on either side as they usually have good numbers of Mute Swan with occasional other birding interest mingling with them. On this occasion there were about forty Mute Swans and one Egyptian Goose , this solitary goose has been keeping company with the swans for some weeks now.
Also in the Cote fields circa four hundred Fieldfares and a little surprising not a single Redwing did I record. Other birds seen were three Kestrel.
The Oxon Feather.

                                          A rather bold Fieldfare

Distant Egyptian Goose

Thank You Adam for adding my blog Wings and Roundabout to the Oxon Bird Log I have only just realised that you have activated it.
Recently I have been getting rather angry because of the Dog Walkers and their pooches that seem to be everywhere turning some of my favourite places into turdsville aren't these people capable of making human friends, you know with life forms that have a choice.
A few photos past and present i'll leave you to identify them they should be easy.

                Our County Recorder looking like A Choir Boy  -  Don't be fooled.

From the Feather who has been Round and About

Assorted photos.

I really have no idea why I am unable to transfer my Wings and Roundabout blog on to the oxonbirdsblog so in the meantime I will stick a few bird photos taken recently and continue to despair.

test