Draycote Water :: 28 December 2017

Yesterday in Banbury it snowed and, in the main, mostly melted. We arose to find a heavy frost but decided to continue with our plan to visit Draycote Water and see if we could see the hawfinch there. As we headed north there was a noticeable increase in snow on the fields and roadside. Between Southam and Dunchurch the road became quite treacherous and cars were slowing down to deal with the icy conditions - you could feel the car twitch on cornering. The Country Park had been closed early yesterday due to show and fallen trees.

@DraycoteBirding had pointed where the likely spots would be and so on arriving we quickly had hawfinch feeding on the ground in the small copse behind the park zip wire. The light from this position wasn't ideal and another birder was on the far side of the copse and was waving - later we found out he had the other hawfinch on his side.

After a short while the hawfinch moved right, further into the gloom and into a dip. While it's head was briefly visible there were no photos possible. We decided to circle the copse (bad idea) and see if we could get any views with the sun at our backs. Between our movement and some cyclists coming down the path the birds scattered and it took a good 15 minutes before the finches were back in any number, however without the hawfinch. We opted for a visit to the café for coffee and hot chocolate.

When we returned to the park the hawfinch had returned to the spot we had first seen it but quickly hopped right into a darker spot, the sun now directly behind the copse. No chance to improve the photos I had without perhaps spooking the birds again.

Today sighting (copse only) were: blackbird, bullfinch, chaffinch, dunnock, great spotted woodpecker, great tit, greenfinch, hawfinch, robin, song thrush, woodpigeon and wren.

Thenford :: 17 December 2017

After last month’s failed attempt at seeing hawfinch, I was interested to read on @987jonty's twitter feed that there were still two or three hanging around Thenford Church. I'd been busy picking up my eldest daughter from Uni on Saturday and so after breakfast Sunday I made a quick visit.

Actually it was bloody freezing standing still watching across the lake to the yew and other trees on the far side of the lake. A few flyovers but none were hawfinch. I had been told to listen out for the flight call but the main sounds came from mistle thrush.

Without any success I dropped down the wall from the churchyard to the path beyond and talked briefly to a small group walking their who helpfully suggested that the birds had moved on. Starting to rain I turned and saw a small group of finches at the top of a distant tree; predominantly greenfinch but one turned out to be hawfinch [#172]. I’d started to believe was a mythical creature but at last some success.

Sightings (16) included: black-headed gull, blackbird, blue tit, carrion crow, chaffinch, collared dove, coot, dunnock, greenfinch, hawfinch, house sparrow, mistle thrush, robin, starling, woodpigeon and wren.

Draycote Water :: 02 December 2017

It was a cold morning to go out but I needed to get some fresh air after a week indoors. I wanted to go to Thenford again to see if I could find a hawfinch, but in the end decided on Draycote Water. It looked like a bad choice as I left Banbury as the drizzle started to fall. I needn't have worried as it stopped by Southam.

The car park was quiet and I noted the payment machine has been upgraded to take contactless card payments - note to self. Decided for anticlockwise rotation and spotted good numbers of ducks, grebes and cormorants, plus a single shag. At the spit I spotted the black-necked grebe [#171] but couldn't see any sign of the long-tailed duck; speaking to others confirmed no one else had seen it either. There appeared to a coach-load of birders and I stopped with a group of them as they scanned trees opposite. Turned out to be stunning pair of goldcrest.

Turned to head back as birders suggested there was nothing of any consequence further on. One chap was more disappointed the departure of the LT duck as he is sitting on 198 and looking for a couple of visitors to top the 200 for the year.

A short visit but good to add another species to the year list after a pause in progress.

Sightings today (33) included: black-headed gull, black-necked grebe, blackbird, blue tit, canada goose, carrion crow, coot, cormorant, dunnock, fieldfare, goldcrest, goldeneye, goosander, great crested grebe, great spotted woodpecker, great tit, grey heron, greylag goose, little egret, little grebe, long-tailed tit, magpie, mallard, meadow pipit, mute swan, oystercatcher, pied wagtail, robin, rook, shag, tufted duck, woodpigeon and wren.

Thenford :: 18 November 2017

Despite the drizzle I decided that it would be a good morning to get some fresh air. The only local place I'd heard multiple sightings of hawfinch (other than over @987jonty's back garden) was around Thenford Church - decided. As I approached the church I could see the attraction with substantial numbers of winter thrushes, first redwing and soon joined by fieldfare. Soon, to the right, I also had mistle thrush.

I circled the church and looked out, often distracted by movement of the thrushes. Seven moorhen fed at the edge of the lake and coot called. A wren however tried to drown out all the other calls.

No sight of any hawfinches I returned to the front of the church and followed the paths and gates to the left, down closer to the waters edge. Noisy mistle thrush called from the tops of trees but no joy for the target bird. I thought I saw another birder set down his scope in the churchyard and so looped back that way to see if they had had any luck but no one was around when I got there.

Looks like this millstone will stay around my neck for another week at least as I head back to Russia for work again this week.

Sightings (21) included: black-headed gull, blackbird, blue tit, carrion crow, chaffinch, coot, dunnock, fieldfare, goldfinch, greenfinch, jackdaw, lapwing, long-tailed tit, mistle thrush, moorhen, mute swan, redwing, robin, starling, woodpigeon and wren.

RSPB Arne :: 28 October 2017

After a nice walk down Branksome Dene Chine and along the promenade, we set off for lunch at Morton's Hotel in Corfe. From here we drove down Soldiers Road to Arne Road, both single track. We parked in the overflow card park and headed onto the reserve, stopping at the Visitor's Centre to see if we could see the reported female brambling - no such luck.

We set out across the reserve and noted the large number of family groups enjoying the woodland; perhaps this might be why we saw few species or deer on out way to the coast. Even on the coast there were few species of note and it wasn't until we were well on out way back to the Visitor's Centre that we saw goldcrests in a holly bush.

When back at the car park there was a muntjac deer feeding in the corner of the field, quite relaxed about the group of people stopping and taking photos.

A slightly disappointing visit from a birding perspective but a pleasant walk never-the-less.

Sightings (21) included: blackbird, blue tit, carrion crow, chaffinch, coal tit, cormorant, curlew, dunnock, goldcrest, goldfinch, great black-backed gull, great tit, herring gull, little egret, long-tailed tit, oystercatcher, pochard, robin, shelduck, woodpigeon and wren.

Branksome Dene Chine :: 28 October 2017

We were due to be picking Eilidh up at 11.30am and so after breakfast Charlotte and I opted to walk down Branksome Dene Chine to the beach and have a stroll, while Ailsa rested in her room.

We dropped down about 1/3 of the the way through the trees and took a photo for the 7 days in B&W running on Facebook. Above we caught sight of tits and a single great spotted woodpecker and were remarking how many species were around when I heard and then saw a goldcrest ... buses eh! I stopped and listed again and thought I could hear firecrest (described to me yesterday on Brownsea by one of the volunteers). I opened the bird identification app on my phone and played the call to confirm. This had the added benefit of drawing in a bird which turned out to be a firecrest [#168]. There turned out to be three and at one point they flew past me so close that I could hear the wingbeat. I ran back to the car to get my camera and managed to get a single photo, not my best but then again not my worst!

Charlotte and I then had a nice stroll along the promenade and on the way back up the hill added a raven, calling loudly from the treetops. Sightings on the Chine (10) included: blue tit, carrion crow, firecrest, goldcrest, great spotted woodpecker, long-tailed tit, magpie, pied wagtail, raven and wren.

Brownsea Island :: 27 October 2017

It has been two years since we last visited Brownsea Island and it was going to be a hard act to follow - then we were spoilt with achingly good views of red squirrel and some photos that did them justice - we were under no illusions that the same would happen again. As it turned out, we did see a couple of red squirrels but somehow not in the same displays as before. The day wasn’t all about the squirrels this time!

We set out on the 10.00am ferry and arrived on the island in glorious sunshine. It was to be set fair for the whole day. As we landed we looked out over the lagoon and it appeared that the water was further out somehow and the birds more distant. A small group of redshank fed within range of our bins but most birds were really quite distant. We could see avocet, black-tailed godwit, teal, cormorant and little egret.

Off we set towards the Low Hide. Looking out we could see how low the water actually was, and again how distant the birds were. After a short while we moved on to the Mac hide, hoping to catch sight of some spoonbills.

From the Mac Hide we could see a group of about 20 large white birds and initially assumed that these may be the spoonbills; in fat they were all little egret. With a few more scattered across the lagoon, it is probably the largest congregation of little egrets that I’ve seen. We wee pointed to some reeds to the left of the hide where a female kingfisher was resting, and had been for a good five minutes. Tried some photos but it was really too distant for anything other than a record shot. A small flock of meadow pipit passed by one of the closer islands, one resting on top of some chicken wire, protecting the tern nesting site from predation.

We set off again, headed for the Villa. Last time we were here there were only coal tits visiting the feeding station but this time they were joined by great and blue tits and chaffinch. On nearby trees we had siskin, redpoll and goldcrest [#166]. Having not seen any goldcrest this year I then went on to see more on three separate occasions as we circled the Dorset Wildlife Trust trails. Buzzard circled overhead as we turned to head for lunch.

After lunch we headed back to the Mac Hide to see if any spoonbills had been pushed back to the lagoon by the rising tide. To our delight three spoonbills [#167] had turned up, but other than preening, the had their bills under their wings and perched on one leg. Talking to one of the volunteers, they reported that two little stint had been feeding on the small islands on the scrape just ten minutes before but had headed left - I scanned the area and could see possible candidate birds but without a scope it wasn't possible to confirm a sighting - on return home though I had photos to crop and could see the little stint [#168] dwarfed by dunlin and larger species. We had another, better sighting of the kingfisher as it landed and fished from some nearby poles.

Time for picking up Eilidh we headed back to catch the ferry back to Sandbanks, seeing shag as we left.

Sightings today (40) included: avocet, black-headed gull, black-tailed godwit, blackbird, blue tit, buzzard, carrion crow, chaffinch, coal tit, cormorant, curlew, dunlin, goldcrest, goldfinch, great black-backed gull, great tit, greenshank, grey heron, herring gull, hooded crow, jackdaw, kingfisher, lesser black-backed gull, little egret, little stint, long-tailed tit, meadow pipit, nuthatch, oystercatcher, redshank, robin, shag, shelduck, siskin, sparrowhawk, spoonbill, teal, wigeon, woodpigeon and wren.