Wardington: Yellow Wagtails, plus Bicester Wetland Reserve.

Yellow Wagtails are still holding territory in one of our local wheat fields so I grabbed the opportunity to take a few images in the early morning sunshine yesterday.  The male wagtails looked stunning against the more subtle straw-coloured hue of the ripening wheat.

Male Yellow Wagtail in field of wheat

 

I drove on down to Bicester Wetland Reserve, where the mirror calm conditions were ideal for watching the waterbirds, including eight Green Sandpipers (all adults) and two juvenile Little Ringed Plovers.  Nice to see a couple of juvenile Lapwings, probably raised locally.  The Thames Water lagoon next to the reserve also held a dozen Teal and a family of six Little Grebe chicks.  I hadn't realised Little Grebes can lay as many as six eggs in a clutch.  Reed Warblers were busy feeding fledged chicks and both Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs were also carrying food.   

Grey Heron, Canada Geese with Mallards and Green Sandpipers further back

Juvenile Lapwing

Whitethroat

Reed Warbler feeding juvenile

Juvenile Little Ringed Plovers

Green Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover

Lapwings

Banburyshire: Yellowhammer survey working well plus some bonus birds

The BOS Yellowhammer survey fieldwork is nearly complete and has been both productive - in terms of finding Yellowhammers - and very enjoyable.  I have managed to complete four of the one-hour surveys, each covering a different 1Km square in my local area to the northeast of Banbury.  Both morning and evening the Yellowhammers have been singing well and have been easy to record.  More on the survey findings at a later date, but the good news is that they are still widespread in our area and in some areas of wildlife-friendly farmland they appear to be doing quite well.

The fieldwork gave some good opportunities to photograph the male Yellowhammers while they perched on a favourite song post or wire. 

Singing male Yellowhammer

Male Yellowhammer with food

Male Yellowhammer

One of the survey squares had a couple of small lakes with three broods of Tufted Ducks and a family of Little Grebes

Female Tufted Duck with a larger duckling

One survey square near Thenford was good for Yellowhammers, but also had a couple of pairs of Yellow Wagtails breeding, right in the middle of a field of winter wheat.

Male Yellow Wagtail