November 29th 2009

At long last a decent days birding.
The weather forecast was dire but Dave and I took a risk searching for owls down the Southam Rd at first light finding 2 Barn Owls hunting and hearing three Tawny Owls before a deluge had us running for the car and down the road to Calcutt. We had just passed Broadwell village when a Woodcock flew in front of car and by the time we arrived at Calcutt the rain had stopped and we had our third Barn Owl of the morning hunting the plantation.
We then moved on to Napton Reservoir where despite the high water level, more habitat destruction by Severn Trent and some effort to reduce the size of the reed bed we still managed Green Sandpiper, 2 Water Rail, 2 Cetties Warbler, male Goldeneye, 5 Pochard, 5 Gadwall and 9 Snipe.
Next stop was to check out Friday’s report of Great White Egret at Wormleighton Reservoir and on arrival we thought it had gone when it suddenly flew from its hiding place across the reservoir to land briefly on the shoreline before returning to perch in the tall trees at the back. Stunning views before a Buzzard moved it on. Local fishermen reckon its using the reservoir as a roosting spot. Also present were female Goosander, Green Sandpiper, 10 Tree Sparrow, 10 Bullfinch, 2 Raven, 3 Buzzard and a Marsh Tit.
After breakfast we looked at Brandon Marsh where there were 4 Siskin and Lesser Redpoll by the visitors centre, 14 Snipe and a pair of Goldeneye on east marsh while the feeding station had Willow Tit and Nuthatch. Locals now think there are 3 Bitterns on site with 2 on newlands and one on west marsh seen at the same time this morning.
Our final destination of Lawford Heath produced 2 Corn Bunting and a Buzzard
There were very large numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing at most of our destinations today especially in the Napton and Wormleighton areas.
Dave managed a Winter Moth and Light Brown Apple Moth in his garden trap while I trapped zilch.

Richard