A cloudy, and slightly chilly morning with very little breeze. I chose to continue Alne walking, starting at Wootton Pool, walking north to Henley and then completing the circuit through Preston Bagot.
Wootton Pool is about as easy to watch at this time of the year as it ever gets. The lack of foliage giving a fairly unimpeded view of most of the pool. No doubt my counts missed a few birds because it still isn't perfect, but I reckoned there were at least 19 Tufted Ducks, a drake Gadwall, a Great Crested Grebe, a Little Grebe, 12 Mute Swans, and 20 Coots to look at.
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| I always get a slight thrill of anticipation when a flock of Tufted Ducks is present |
No Ring-necked Ducks, Scaup, or even Pochard on show. Next time maybe.
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| Gadwall |
The fields north of the pool are mostly arable, and in previous years contained Lapwings, and even Curlews. Today just half a dozen singing Skylarks and a Kestrel were remotely noteworthy.
I reached the bridge at Henley and was pleased to find a small rookery with plenty of activity, and a couple of Grey Wagtails. The cloudy sky was bad news for photography, but did mean that the southward journey from Preston Bagot did not require walking into dazzling sunlight.
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| The view south-east from Preston Bagot |
As you can tell from the above shot, the farmland is now dominated by pasture (sheep). So perhaps it was no coincidence that a Red Kite appeared, no doubt looking for any carrion it could find.
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| Red Kite |
No longer rare, but still uplifting for someone like me who remembers when they were so rare that such a discovery was unimaginable. Once I reached the canal I could see another former rarity, a Raven towering over the surrounding Rooks and Jackdaws.
A final surprise was a Grey Heron which flew into a conifer plantation. The noises from within suggested the possible presence of a small heronry.
I'll have to check that out another day.
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