Beddington Farmlands walk

Did the permissive path yesterday and then over to the gun site back through bikers and horse field and back to lockdown. Ebird list HERE- highlights were Sedge Warbler and House Martin as new for years and also a strange hawk gave me the runaround.

Hawk sp. Maybe something like an escaped Cooper's or a size delusional Sprawk?) It looked huge next to the Common Buzzard (lower bird). The tatty appearance could indicate a cage origin. I thought Goshawk at first but there is a clear warm wash on the underparts which would rule out Gos. 

 Common Buzzards were on the move- seven together here

Good numbers of butterflies also out now including Orange-tips, Brimstones, Small Tortoiseshells, Peacocks (above), Small White and Green-viened White. 

Jacob

In case you missed it here is the latest song from THEE BRYANS. 

THEE BRYANS FACEBOOK PAGE

Worminghall Exploration

Jacob, Holly and I used up our daily exercise out of lockdown today to walk from the Old Vic to Waterperry-Waterstock-Ickford and back in order to explore the Thame River. Unfortunately it appears the river is impossible to access legally and the footpaths only cross it at a couple of places. However it was a pretty interesting walk with a few key farmland birds such as Curlew, Lapwing, Yellowhammer, Grey Partridge, Raven, Red Kites and a few Skylarks, albiet in low density (Ebird list HERE). Very few migrants in these parts (similar to what I've found in the past)- it must be because nearby Otmoor sucks them all up. Only had 1 Barn Swallow and about 5 Chiffchaff.

 A stunning 'Grey-rumped Pheasant' - 'torquatus group' (Comment from Barry Hudson: Blue Backed Michigan Pheasant.They are a type that were bred by the shooting fraternity with the sporting attribute of flying high and fast but as with all steps forward there is always a catch and with this super high flying bird they had a tendency to wander and Gamekeepers found they were supplying more birds for their neighbours than they were able to keep on their own ground. Not sure where they were bred, in spite of their name I'm not certain they were developed in the USA. Maybe France as that is where many of the Pheasants that are put down to covert these days are supplied from.)

 Red Kite and Raven

 Grey Partridges

 Loads of nice little country features in these parts 

Waterstock Mill 

The Old Vicarage, Lockdown Weekend

It's been a hectic few days in lockdown- if there was any further proof needed that garden wildlife is an endless resource and you really don't have to leave home to explore the natural world, well, this whole experience is hammering that point home.

The Old Vicarage all time bioblitz list is now on 685 with some new species recorded this weekend including Common Scoter (at last- must have been last to the party!) , Little Grebe, Coot, Teal and Water Rail recorded on the noc-mig recorder (Ebird list and recordings HERE) and other highlights included the first Swallow for the year, Streamer in the moth trap and a new sawfly Nematus lucidus. 

Also made good progress with the food growing in the wildlife garden.

Here's a few picture highlights:

GARDEN BIRDS 

Adult Red Kite 

First Swallow of the year 

Male Pheasant in the garden 

Highlight of exploring the local area for our daily walk was this flock of Fieldfare (about 250+) by the river at Ickford 

Stock Dove and Woodpigeon on the neighbours roof 

NOC-MIGGING

 Common Scoters- Sounds like two birds going over 

 Little Grebe- Recorded on two nights recently 

Coot- Recorded on all nights recording

GARDEN MOTHS ETC

Streamer - the only other moth in the trap was Hebrew Character (below) 

This was actually a pug I potted as I left the Beddington obs- Oak Tree Pug? The pale area just beyond the dark central spot is indicative of this species. 

Nematus lucidus (I-spot id HERE) 

GARDEN BOTANY

The Bluebells are flowering in the drive 

This fritillaria is an exotic but nonetheless impressive looking 

WILDLIFE GARDENING AND FOOD GROWING 

The Broccoli is coming along well. Sowed into seed trays and left inside by the window before transplanting. 

Same with Tomatoes- seed trays-window-transplant.

Runner beans- one seed per individual pots, on the windowsill before transplanting 

All the root veg seeds have gone straight into the raised beds- carrots, radish and beetroot  

The little wildlife gardener- it was Jacob's third birthday this weekend- we made this little song for him (below) 

Tough going at the Beddington Obs

It's been a fantastic couple of nights for noc-miggers across the country (see Birdguides article HERE ). Local birders including Arjun (Wallington) and Steve Gale (Banstead) have had Common Scoters, Brent Geese, Redshank and other garden megas. I've had the Beddington Farmlands recorder on and been scouring through the recordings but unfortunately cant find much at all. Best was a flock of migrating Wigeon (distantly) and a Little Ringed Plover. The lake background noise is always a challenge but I spent a lot of time real time listening and unfortunately nothing to sing or dance about. 

Also had the moth trap going and like wise- very quiet.

Another case of where hard work doesn't pay off! Hopefully better luck tonight. The weather is set to warm this weekend so maybe better on the moth front too- I'll be transferring to the Old Vic tomorrow so see if I have more luck at the weekend Obs! 

Brindled Pug- first for year

Agonopterix yeatiana? 

Looks like a second-summer Yellow-legged Gull but very distant 

 Only nocturnal migrant I had was this flock of Wigeon 

 Little Ringed Plover has been calling from the lake at night recently

 This was a call that was new for me- Little Grebe flight call! Listen to end for best clarity.

Had a few of these calling at night

This weather map for the weekend looks a bit worryingly interesting! Migrants, overshoots and moths on the cards!! 

Portuguese Rarities Committee Report

We've finally published the next report from the Portuguese Rarities Committee which mainly covers records from 2013 and 2014. Links to all our reports HERE. Direct link to Volume 11 HERE

This is the Birdlife Partner, official report that our local Azores report feeds into. For the Azores Reports see HERE.

On the Tools

Even though we are not getting any government bail outs (due to being a limited company with sub-contractors who are also limited) the one good thing about working while most other people are in lockdown is that the roads are very quiet and there's no traffic. I went out on the tools today to get some more photos for our websites and social media. Today was a typical day of what we do. This is how we make the money that we spend on birding and eco-social projects. As far as I'm concerned this is how all businesses should be run- effectively mini governments, that make money and re-distribute it and that cap director wages, share the business out amongst the employees and spend profits on maintaining and enhancing ecological and human communities. Sounds like bullshit but we've been doing if for 20 years with the results to prove it, while our local councils have introduced procurement processes to stop businesses like ours growing and handing over all the parks and green spaces to a French multi-national (with mansion and yacht buying CEOs) who are doing such a shit job that Merton Council are subbing it back out locally to us. We (everyone and everything) are almost certainly heading towards economic meltdown as a result of this virus- will see if companies like ours can rise in the chaos- as our model does create economic, social and environmental capital and if Capitalism does go into meltdown, and this could be the big one, the biggest depression the world has ever seen, we have got a tiny part of the solution (if we can survive). Is everyone sick of these yacht and mansion buying business owners yet? If not hopefully soon.... its not possible for value creators to compete and grow when value extractors are allowed to grow bigger. 

LITTLE OAK GROUP

 The mobile obs doubled up as the tea van today 

 Van 2- each one of these units (van,chipper, tools and gear)  costs about £40,000 .  In total we've got about quarter of a million pound costs to cover each year. We have to make nearly £5000 a week before we make a penny profit. That is going to be extremely difficult if the road ahead falls away!  

Van 3