The forecast for our walk at Bury Down on the Ridgeway on 10 December predicted heavy rain and wind between 10.30am and 1pm, the exact time for our planned ramble. It was spot on. Nevertheless, six noble – or possibly foolish – souls, donned waterproofs, determined to defy the weather and complete the circuit.
Did we see any birds? Well, not many, and those we did spot were blown at such speed across us that it was hard to get a handle on them. We did, however, find a few sheltering and feeding on the berries in scrubby hawthorn bushes, but they were hard to see through the driving rain. A few corn buntings were noted, a male yellow hammer, a goldfinch, linnets, skylarks, a scattering of fieldfares, and even a lone blackbird. Red kites were about too and apparently not so bothered by the deluge. Similarly, gulls and corvids.
So, sadly, not much to report and photography was impossible in those conditions. However, we all gained a huge sense of achievement and appreciation of centrally heated homes! Perhaps we’ll make another attempt when the forecast is better.
Julia Reid 11 December 2023
John C. adds: To our everlasting embarrassment, Sue and I mistook the start time and arrived fifteen minutes after the ‘noble six’ had set off. We started to follow but, after a soaking few minutes, we beat a retreat to the car where, through steamed-up windows, we watched corn buntings sitting on the wire fences.
In fact, we had done a recce for this walk the previous Sunday. It was drizzling to start with and no short-eared owls would have been flying even if they were in the area – we had seen five on the Club’s previous visit in 2016 (see Newsletter 106). However, the rain stopped, it turned into a reasonably nice day and there were plenty of birds to be seen, notably stonechats and corn buntings perched on fences. There were more red kites than you could shake a stick at (as they say). (I’m beginning to think that, nice as they are to see, they may be becoming a pest.) We were pleased to see several ravens, confirmed by their croaking.
There were also plenty of fieldfares and a few redwings. I have the impression that there are far fewer redwings than usual this year, but perhaps I’ve not been in the right places.
On the way down to West Ilsley we enountered ‘the hazard of the day’: a short slope of pure slushy chalk. It was wet, very slippery and completely whitewashed our wellies! When we got back to the carpark we realised that it’s the best place to see corn buntings and stonechats – they will obligingly come and sit on the fences in front of the car! Our species list can be found here.
John Cobb 15 Dec 2023
WEST OXFORDSHIRE FIELD CLUB 