Tadpole & Chimney.

Another delivery was required today to keep Tree Sparrow Project volunteer Alan Larkman in millet as he was down to his last bag and I arrived at Alan's with 6x25 kg. bags and watched in wonder as the mixed flock of  hundreds of Finches fed on his front lawn and his nearby pony paddock made up of , and this is a rough estimate , two hundred and fifty Chaffinch,two hundred and fifty Linnets, one hundred Reed Bunting fourteen Bullfinch , and twenty Tree Sparrow the main numbers of Tree Sparrows were feeding on the feeders round the back garden, also a party of Long T Tits were active as only they can be active.
We then drove to Chimney to fill up the near depleted feeders and saw many Tree Sparrow, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer. A flock of mainly Fieldfare I guess some two hundred in number along with one hundred Redwing and one hundred and fifty Starling were searching the grass fields for sustenance and as we walked across the field with the Dexter Cattle in it we were taken by the numbers of Meadow Pipits , probably around fifty, that were scratching what seemed a meagre living from the quite bare meadowland.
The Oxon Feather.

Bullfinch.

Mixed Bag.

Today I delivered bags of Millet to several of our Tree Sparrow volunteers and was rewarded with sightings of A Barn Owl, twelve Tree Sparrows, Two separate flocks of Fieldfare with over one hundred birds in each flock one Kestrel, four Greenfinch, two Mistle Thrush, one grey Heron and about twenty Reed Bunting.
The Oxon Feather.

                                          Distant shot of Tree Sparrow.                                              

Distant shot of Mistle Thrush.

The best Birds Done A Bunk.

An early morning walk from Stanford to Shellingford Quarry and then on to Hatford before returning to Stanford was fairly unremarkable , with about thirty Teal , a pair of Tufted Ducks , a pair of Pochard , one Kestrel a pair of Canada Geese, one Kingfisher and a couple of Partridge that realised it was St. Valentines and had paired up. The Kingfisher and the Grey Partridges done a bunk before I was able to get a photo unfortunately.
The Oxon Feather.

                                           Teal.

                                          Tufted and Pochard.

                                          Canada Goose.

                                                           Pied Wagtail.

Golden Day - But no Sun.

A walk from Stanford to Hatford and then through Shellingford Quarry returning by a circular route to Stanford gave me the opportunity to record one Stock Dove, eight Golden Plover, six Grey Partridge, circa three hundred Teal around twenty Redwing and the same number of Fieldfare two Red Kite and one Common Buzzard although it was rather dank and overcast I saw enough birdlife to lift the spirit in what is just about the worst time of the year for the grey days of winter to be finally dragging us down.
The Oxon Feather.

 Golden Plover

 Stock Dove

 Teal
and Fieldfare