Banburyshire: great grey shrike, garganey, whinchat....

Despite the nagging cold weather pattern, the past few days have been great for birding, with some crisp sunny mornings and some scarce birds in our patch.  The seasonal survey work and back-garden birdwatching has also been rewarding.  Out of the wind there were times when you could almost imagine it was a warm spring day! 
A few highlights below:

male Whinchat - they used to breed in the Cherwell Valley but now just only a passage migrant.  This one brightened up my wader survey visit on Weds, then today (Thursday) lighting struck twice with one just outside Wardington.

male Blackbird - the female was busy building a nest for what will hopefully be their second brood of the season

female Great-spotted Woodpecker

Robin chicks in the nest early morning Tuesday- by the evening they were gone.

Great Grey Shrike, Edgecote, Tuesday morning (record shot)

Drake Garganey, Upper Cherwell EA Pool, Tuesday Evening (very poor light by the time I got there)

Goldfinch photographed through a gateway, part of a large group feeding on dandelion flower heads.  I rather like this image so have used it for my blog header as well.