Trump Phalarope at Farmoor.

Yes you've guessed it , the Phalarope is a Red Neck. I haven't had the time to get along to the big concrete basin for a while so it was a pleasure to meet up with many of Oxfordshires finest birders in fact I got a bit worried for a while when I thought the cream of the cream of local birders 'Badger' had fallen in Farmoor two but thankfully it was just the very white Coot eating some vegetation .
Well Done to Dai and Dave for another good spot and by the way Dai I will be looking out your A Rs this weekend.
The Feather.

Flyer

Birding has been quite flat this year with a rather poor breeding season in my view and I suppose the weather has played its part and no doubt the mega - efficient pesticides that are the cause of the deaths of so many of our small farmland birds that rely on this important link in the food chain especially in their early days of life.
The only bird of note recently and seen flying high over my garden at Bampton was Raven but a walk from Stanford in the Vale Thursday 7th gave me a couple of common Dragonflies and a quite striking Noon Fly mesembrina meridian .
The Bird Fair was marvellous and a couple of talks by Ian Newton most interesting as was the super moth identification put on by the Lewington brothers and one other whose name I have managed to forget , I even spotted Bill Oddie as he shuffled by me.
The Feather.

Saved by the Tell

A trip down to the old concrete basin to have a chat with the wildlife warden Hanna about the Farmoor Open Day this Saturday 20th when Lew and Dai will be taking birders across the reservoir and I will be displaying oos stuff along with the artwork of the Lewington Brothers - do your best to get there and support us it promises to be a marvellous day out (look in the forthcoming events section)
Met Tezzer in the carpark which was a bit of luck as walking up the entrance footpath I stumbled and it was a bit of luck that Tezzer arrested my headlong flight towards the tarmac as I could have made an awful mess of both the footpath and myself.
After sampling the cafe cuisine, and very nice too, I then left for pit 60 meeting just outside the hide Jim who told me he had seen both Peregrine and Hobby. I didn't get either but spent an enjoyable hour watching LR Plover,Lapwing, Redshank, Oystercatcher and others. Hope you can make it to Farmoor Saturday and if you can please call in and say hello. Oh yes!In Focus will be there.
The Oxon Feather.

 The answer my friend is blowing in the wind

Got him by the Throat.

Bleeding roll on! cold! or what? After having moved back to Bampton I now find very cold, windy and dry conditions. Of course the dry conditions are just a continuing and worsening of the lack of Winter and Spring rain we are experiencing and that is not good for our insect eating birds and in particular their chicks who depend on this important source of protein. Farmers crops are not looking too good and apart from the earlier than usual Oil-Seed Rape one can see a desperate need for moisture over the drying countryside.
Saw this evasive Whitethroat yesterday one of four but they were difficult to photograph as they were really good at hiding themselves.The Oxon Feather.

Whitethroat

Yellowhammer

Linnet

Rushey Lock

Pond Water-Crowfoot

Distant Fox in the Meadow

I'm Lost in Space Like the Rest of My Race.

Recent times have been busy due to moving back to my Bampton bungalow. I expect to find time for posting sightings as I ramble over our oxon countryside.
Myself and A.L. set up the OOS Tree Sparrow Project something like ten (perhaps more) years ago and this continues to be my overriding interest and if you find Tree Sparrows in the oxon area please let me know and I can then make arrangements to supply seed and nest boxes in order to encourage these red listed birds to increase.
The Oxon Feather.