Broughton Castle: Bramblings

The grounds of Broughton Castle near Banbury are quite a good place to look for birds in a beautiful setting, with good access.  The extensive parkland is dotted with old oak trees and several clumps of beech trees.  For the past few days a small number of Brambling have been feeding with Chaffinches on beech mast but have been quite difficult to see as they are easily disturbed and the park is also popular for dog walking.  This morning was my first opportunity to have look for them. Walking towards the main clump of mature trees I soon located the flock and my first Brambling, but it was some time before I could get a prolonged view as the birds kept moving on through the trees. Then I had some good fortune - a couple of Brambling flew into the top of a large hawthorn and decided to start preening.  And the sun came out!  So I managed to capture a few images with the phone-scope combination.

Brambling, Broughton Castle grounds

Later I realised I was also being watched - by the local Tawny Owl!

Tawny Owl

Earlier in the morning I took advantage of a couple of spare hours whilst my car was being serviced in Banbury and took a walk up to Grimsbury Reservoir and the Upper Cherwell Valley as far at the Borrow Pit pool.  Quite a few Song Thrushes were singing and when I got to Grimsbury Woodland nature reserve I soon located a couple of Marsh Tits but sadly no sign of a Willow Tit (and none reported so far this year).  Up at the Borrow Pit five Little Grebes were in residence and good numbers of gulls were bathing. Redwings were also in evidence in the canal-side hedgerows and scrub.

View of the Oxford Canal near the Borrow Pit.

Nice lighting on the trees behind the Borrow Pit.

BTO English Winter Bird Survey: Moreton Pinkney

Thank you to everyone who had been reading my blog over recent years, I've now passed 40,000 views, and currently standing at 41,157!

This morning I was out surveying what is normally my breeding bird survey square near Moreton Pinkney in south Northants - but this time as part of the BTO's English Winter Bird Survey.  This was my second of, hopefully, four visits in the period Dec to March. The aim of the study it to shed more light on why the majority of our farmland birds continue to decline.  There is also an emphasis on recording Brown Hares and other mammals.

It was near perfect survey conditions this morning - calm, sunny and fairly mild.  Robins and Great Tits were singing and Great Spotted Woodpeckers were drumming.  It is quite interesting to see "my" survey square in winter, with a different mix of species including our winter thrushes, Redwings and Fieldfares. Last month, on my first visit, I glimpsed a Kingfisher speeding along the small stream and saw several Jays.  It was rather sad to see that a large field corner that had been left to go wild for a few years had been ploughed up, especially as Common Spotted Orchids had started to colonise last year.  Small losses of habitat like this, if repeated across the landscape, can have a big cumulative effect on bird populations - removing valuable year-round foraging areas rich in seeds and insects.

The continued absence of any Tree Sparrows was not really a surprise given the widespread disappearance of this species in our area recently.  They are not helped by the recent conversion of many derelict barns to new homes, but this is not the main fain factor affecting them - it is the loss of good winter feeding sites (cereal stubble, game strips etc.) that is by far the main cause.

These barns used to be home to chattering groups of Tree Sparrows, but they seem to have died out now.

The watery sunshine cast a warm glow across the landscape and the illuminated the view across to the church at nearby Canons Ashby.

View towards Canons Ashby