Floods

After a night of heavy rain I was anticipating having difficulty getting to the patch as the undulating roads readily capture run-off from the fields. I decided to go in from the little church on the Henley road as I thought the water might be less deep. Wrong. Well actually it wasn't too bad, but unfortunately someone had got into difficulty overnight and had abandoned their car in the floodwater, blocking the road entirely.

I decided to walk in, and then got a call from Dave saying he was unable to get along the main Henley road due to a deep sheet of water, and was turning back. Fortunately, he then managed to find a way in via Wootton Wawen, and picked me up for the last stretch.

After all this effort it would be nice to report that the floodwaters on the fields had produced a deluge of birds. Sadly not, just lots of water.


Water running through a gate on the Public Footpath

The main pool and flash produced just 2 Teal, 70 Mallard, and 131 Greylag Geese. We arrived back at the car having seen very little of interest, 15 Siskins perhaps the best record. We then set off for the south end. As we approached, we heard a strange trumpeting call. It was repeated several times and we were perplexed. What was it? Perhaps a Whooper Swan, or a Crane. It sounded more like the latter but we couldn't see anything, and the calls became less frequent and more distant. Whatever it was it was, we bitterly concluded it was a big bird, and probably something really good. We probably should have been able to name it, but we had to let it go.

Anyway, we finally found some Finches, with at least six Bramblings in amongst 50 Chaffinches and about 25 Linnets. Then we heard Golden Plover calls and looked up to see 40 heading rapidly east. More Greylags flew north in several small skeins totalling about 60 birds, and finally a really big flock of Golden Plovers, 120 strong, headed west to round off an eventful visit.