New Yatt: Merryfield Farm: 31st January

New Yatt: Merryfield Farm
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker: Flying north-east along New Yatt Road. SP364113.

Jeremy Blakey

Port Meadow: 31st January

Port Meadow
120 Barnacle Goose
3 Shelduck
7 Goosander
3 Pintail

Adam Hartley

Standlake common:am 31st January

pit 38
Great White Egret
pit 60
Great White Egret
2 Goldeneye (m,f)
pit 27
Goosander

Nettlebed/Henley/Sonning area 30/01/17 pm

Lesser spotted woodpecker -  one calling in trees and briefly seen.

Waxwing - 1 over calling, briefly in tall popular south of henley before flying high north.

Ring necked parakeet 9 around Henley and Shiplake.

Mandarin 6 - Sonning

Port Meadow: 30th January

Port Meadow
Iceland Gull: juv.
Yellow-legged Gull: 2w.
2 Redshank
Shelduck
4 Goosander
100 Golden Plover

Adam Hartley

video footage courtesy of Gnome

Middleton Stoney 30th January

No sign of any Cattle Egrets within the pig fields this afternoon or of any Brambling.

(per Ewan)

Port Meadow 30th January

ICELAND GULL (imm) within the gull roost 17:00 (per Adam).

Photos to follow.

Otmoor WeBS 30th January

Here are the counts from our unofficial WeBS this morning on the moor!

Black-headed gull	35
Canada goose	684
Coot	11
Cormorant	7
Gadwall	39
Golden plover	500
Grey heron	3
Greylag goose	22
Lapwing	2492
Lesser-black backed gull	5
Little egret	1
Mallard	126
Moorhen	9
Mute swan	2
Pintail	11
Pochard	7
Shoveler	62
Snipe	44
Teal	511
Tufted duck	5
Water rail	2
Wigeon	1466

Finally! Golden plover on our WeBS count although still down from last year, and good numbers of lapwing and wigeon. 

Peregrine was seen over Ashgrave.

Two marsh harriers over the reedbed. 

Dunnocks are starting to sing along the bridleway and in July's meadow, and there has been an explosion of skylarks over Ashgrave with at least a dozen flitting about overhead! 

Also, a great view of an otter from the bridleway near Big Otmoor.  

Banbury:30th January

4 Waxwings along Mewburn Road at 13:00

per John Friendship-Taylor

Over Norton 30th January

Again no sign of the Little Bunting today.

Standlake Pit 60: am 30th January

Great White Egret

Shorthampton: 22nd January

Belated report of Peregrine: Flew up from behind church carrying prey. SP327202. 14:00.

Anthony Roberts

Otmoor.A.M. 29th January.

3+ Marsh Harrier
2 Peregrine
1 Bittern
4+ Bullfinch
C. 10 Pochard
C.9 Pintail
1 S.E.Owl
2 Stonechat.

2 Reeves's Pheasant nr Upper Arncott (per Gavin Bennett)

Reeves's Pheasants courtesy of Gavin Bennett

Over Norton 29th January

No sign of the Little Bunting by 10:45 (per Gareth Blockley)

Farmoor/Pinkhill NR 28th January

Water rail (2)
Cetti's warbler
Grey wagtail

Caulcott:pm 28th January

No sign of any Cattle Egrets in the pig fields.

At least 3 Brambling with Chaffinch flock feeding on beech mast and leaf litter next to parking area for Aves Ditch Bridleway (per Jim Hutchins)

Bicester Wetlands Reserve 28th January

1 Shelduck
185 Teal
5 Shoveler
2 Gadwall
1 Little Grebe

4 Roe Deer

Alan Peters

Over Norton 28th January

Little Bunting with Yellowhammer 24/1 courtesy of Nick Truby

LITTLE BUNTING still present and seen briefly at 10:30 (per Mike Pollard)

Please keep to public rights of way and do
not enter copse or tamper with the feeders.

Rushey Common lake, 28th January

Sparrowhawk
Egyptian Geese 2
Goldeneye  1m 2f
Grey Wagtail

Clackers

Allens Pit Dorchester 28th January

Merlin (m)
Egyptian Goose 2
Stonechat

Red Kite & Marsh Harrier interaction Otmoor RSPB courtesy of Derek Latham

Benson 28th January

No sign of the Waxwing along Blacklands Road or surrounding area by 11:50.

West Ginge: West Ginge Down: 28th January

West Ginge: West Ginge Down
2 Stonechat: m&f.

Mark Merritt

Benson 27th January

Waxwing in Benson on Blacklands Road in garden at 14:00 (per RBA)

Over Norton 27th January

Little Bunting courtesy of Paul Wren.


LITTLE BUNTING still present on track near copse and feeding station at 10:08 with
Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers (per Pete Barker, Ralph Watts et al)

Please keep to public rights of way
and do not enter copse or tamper
with any of the feeders.

Otmoor.A.M. 27th January.

3 Marsh Harrier
1 Peregrine
1 S.E.Owl
13 Pochard
14+ Pintail
4 Stonechat.

Caulcott & Northbrook 27th January

Aves Ditch Bridleway
Good flock of brambling (c30 with chaffinch and thrushes), feeding on beech mast and leaf litter in field next to parking area

Northbrook 
Lapwing (c200) & Golden Plover (c50) feeding in large field to left of entrance road
Fieldfare (c100) & Redwing (c50) in same field
Corn bunting (2) on overhead wires

Standlake Common: am 27th January

8 Goosander,
Goldeneye (pit 60)
Kingfisher,
Treecreeper (pit 29)

Otmoor Thursday 26 January a.m.

1 SE Owl
3 Marsh Harrier
2 Bullfinch
1 Yellowhammer
1 Jay
1 Green Woodpecker
20 Snipe

Over Norton 26th January

Video grab by Badger

LITTLE BUNTING still present at 08:25 on track near copse and feeding station with
Reed Buntings & Yellowhammers (per RBA).

Please keep to public rights of way
and do not enter the copse or
tamper with any of the feeders.

LITTLE BUNTING SITE CONSIDERATIONS

I've been asked by the landowner at Over Norton to pass on a message for twitchers going for the Little Bunting. He's a bit displeased at the behaviour of some twitchers, and has asked that birders are instructed not to leave the public footpath or enter the copse, and strictly not to touch the feeders present.

Apparently people have been emptying the feeders to scatter seed on the track, to attract the Bunting down for better views. This has annoyed the landowner, who already scatters 5 kg of food on the track daily. The feeders are there to maintain constant food as part of a scientific project. Removing food from the feeders interferes with this project, and is causing annoyance (as is the trespass into the copse to reach the feeders).

Twitchers are also spending a long time at the feeding station, which is causing further disturbance to the project. Although a public footpath, strictly speaking the landowner can ask people to move on if they are causing an obstruction, but would rather that visiting birders simply stuck to the path, moved on quickly after seeing the bird, and didn't interfere with the feeders.

Richard Broughton

Otmoor.A.M. 25th January.

1+ Marsh Harrier
1 SE Owl
2 Barnacle Goose
5 Pochard (M)
9 Pintail
1 Sparrowhawk
1 Stonechat
4+ Bullfinch
2 Cettis Warbler (H).

Over Norton 25th Jan

LITTLE BUNTING still present 16:00 (per Vic Wren) on track adjacent to small
copse & feeding station with Reed Buntings & Yellowhammers.
08:20 (per Andy Last)

Brambling 2 (f)

Park near A3400 roundabout and follow footpath or alternatively park carefully in
Over Norton and follow footpath adjacent to the phone box/bus stop.
Please keep to public rights of way.
Do not enter the copse and do not tamper with any of the feeders.
SP.323283

little bunting in the early morning murk 

Oxford City 24th January

Black Redstart (1stw/f) on the roof of the Pharmacology Department of Oxford University at 14:00 though mobile. The department is on Mansfield Road at OX1 3QT

(per Tom Pizzari)

Kennington 14th January

Belated report of 19 Waxwing in Kennington on the 14th SP522017.

                                 


















Blue Tit with aberrantly long mandibles on feeders at Otmoor 21/1

Yarnton: 24th January

Yarnton
Barn Owl: 3rd sighting this month.

Nick Suckling

Snow Geese 5 of the 62 (including 9. blue morph) at Farmoor Reservoir
courtesy of Phillip Percival.

Kingston Bagpuize: 24th January

Kingston Bagpuize
2 Waxwing: In my garden !!! Sat in tree for 2 minutes and then relocated behind Hinds Head Pub... 11:15.

Jed Cleeter

courtesy of Jed Cleeter

Over Norton 24th January

LITTLE BUNTING still present at 14:00 on track adjacent to the small copse
and feeding station with Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers.
Brambling (f)

(per Graham Coleman et al).

Yarnton 22nd January

Belated report of Waxwing yesterday in Yarnton (per RBA)

Baulking Pit 23rd January

Caspian Gull (1stw)
No sign of the imm Iceland Gull by 17:00

(per RBA)

Henley Road GPs: 23rd January

Henley Road GPs
Smew: rh. 12:00.
4 Egyptian Goose 12:00.

Hugh Netley

Over Norton. 23rd. January.

LITTLE BUNTING still present at feeding station 15:30 (per Terry Tossell) though mobile.
Seen on and off from c09:30 feeding along the track adjacent to the small
copse and feeding station.

Little Bunting.  Viewed from footpath by feeding station.

Brambling 2
Chaffinch 30+
Reed Bunting c20
Yellowhammer c20
Raven 2

Otmoor.A.M. 23rd January.

2 Marsh Harrier
2 Marsh Tit
1 Water Rail.
4+ Bullfinch.

Male Kingfisher Clifton Hampden 20/1 courtesy of  Barry Neale

Chipping Norton: 23rd January

Chipping Norton
120 Lapwing: flock still present over fields W of CN. SP303252. 09:30.
17 Golden Plover: in flight. SP303252. 09:30.
50 Skylark: SP303252. 09:30.

Steve Akers

Kingston Bagpuize: 22nd January

Goshawk (fem) Buzzard size & scoped to confirm.
Arrived from the South putting everything up, then circled higher & departed North West. 13:20.

Jed Cleeter

East Hendred: 22nd January

East Hendred
2 Raven 14:00.

JB Woodford

Over Norton - Little Bunting, 22nd January

This LITTLE BUNTING was with a Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting flock at a feeding station in a copse 400m east of Over Norton at SP 323283 - see map below. 

There is very limited parking near the A3400 roundabout and a little parking in Over Norton village. 

The birds are very skittish although seemed to tolerate passing dog walkers. They were coming down to feed on the public footpath adjacent to the copse. 

Please keep to public rights of way (out of the copse), this is a very very bird friendly farm.