GOOD LUCK TO EXTINCTION REBELLION TODAY

Oxfordshire, Weekend bits and bobs

Did Farmoor this morning Ebird list here and had the moth trap out on Saturday night at the Old Vicarage.

I checked out Pinkhill and Shrike Hill Nature Reserves (on the western side of the reservoirs) at Farmoor for the first time, was hoping for a Yellow-browed. Had my first couple of Redwings for the autumn, a few Mips and Skylarks moving over and the odd Goldcrest and Chiffy in the bushes but not too much in the way of migrant passerine activity or vis mig. Also 40+ House Martin over the reservoir.

Had Barn Owl, Kingfishers and also Muntjac and Roe Deers along the Thames.

Highlight of the weekend was a female-type Red-breasted Merganser at Farmoor moving between the north and south basins.

 Red-breasted Merganser above and two below , Farmoor Reservoir

 Some serious fantastic plastic going on in Oxfordshire- about 700 Greylags and nearly 30 Barnacle Geese on the reservoir 

 A noticeable presence of Grey Wagtails on the banks - up to six 

 Leucistic Coot 

 Roe Deer on the reservoir edge 

 Red-line Quaker 

and a few moths from the Beddington trap on Friday night 

 A good run of Dewick's Plusia recently 

 Dewick's Plusia with Silver-Y

 Cypress Pug

Dusky-lemon Sallow, Beaded Chestnut, Large Rannunculus and Crocidosema plebjana

EXTINCTION REBELLION TOMORROW

Extinction Rebellion are set to start another major period of economic disruption tomorrow in London. Our local Sutton group will be involved in peaceful protest in the Capital and a peaceful demonstration is also planned outside the Civic Offices on Tuesday, to coincide with the Beddington Farmlands petition hearing.

I suspect it is going to be a tough week for Extinction Rebellion. The government commissioned PolicyUK earlier in the year to investigate the organisation who have reported back a three tier structure, comprised of Extinction Rebellion-RisingUP!-Compassionate Revolution and have linked it to eco-Marxist extremist ideology. Effectively Extinction Rebellion is a campaign of Compassionate Revolution, funded by donors (Lush is included in the donor list).  As such PolicyUK have recommended the group be considered within a counter terrorism framework and the police have been instructed to change tactics from permissive to oppressive in dealing with the group. The police are using 'conspiracy to commit a public nuisance' to intercept actions before they can organise. Extinction Rebellion are very aware of this (the co-founder Roger Hallam is in prison already) and the tactic for tomorrow is to overwhelm the police- can the police arrest 10-30,000 people- there's no room for them in the cells. I suspect tomorrow is going to be a major battle ground and possibly we will see more arrests than the 1000+ arrests in the spring uprising.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow. Personally, as I stated from the beginning, I'm saving my arrest for local issues at Beddington Farmlands. The Tuesday council meeting to decide the future of the farmlands will impact on whether Non-violent Direct Action will be needed to ensure the protection of Beddington Farmlands and the accountability of our local Capitalist lords- Viridor.

It's a shame not to see the nature conservation establishment openly supporting Extinction Rebellion and promoting action tomorrow. There may be differences in nuances of how to deal with the ecological emergency but fundamental objectives are shared across the whole of the environmental movement. I'm not an eco-Marxist myself and personally focus on a sustainable business approach, community groups, citizen science, political reform and technological advancement in dealing with the ecological emergency but I also understand that the environmentalist spectrum is wide from rich capitalists like Mark Constantine to hermits living self sufficiently  in a tree house and the most important thing is for the whole community to support each other and to focus defence agaisnt the fundamental Capitalist onslaught on nature. I find the factions and tribalism within Environmentalism/Nature Conservation/Birding not only depressing but mainly stupid and self defeating. 

Viridor in the dock on Tuesday

Kent, American Golden Plover dip

Another dip today but a very enjoyable one. Kojak and I started off at Shellness to do the bushes looking for a Yellow-browed. The best we could muster up were double figures of Chiffy, a couple of Whitethroats, a Blackcap and a few Goldcrests. The local Med Gulls are always a treat. 

Next stop was the cockney cultural centre of Leysdown (Gammonsville)  for fish and chips with pickle egg. The Jellied Eel stall was unfortunately closed for the winter.

On to Oare marshes to arrive before high tide and just in time to string the adult American Golden Plover and get crowd shamed. A nice selection of waders and a single Spoonbill (there was a flock of 16 yesterday). 

Here's a few picture high lights:

 Immature Spoonbill 

 Juvenile Little Stint 

 Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Golden Plover, Knot  and Redshank 

 A nice adult Knot 

 Snipe- counted 54 of these on the East flood 

 Had this distant tern on the Swale- looks like a first-winter Arctic 

 Great to see the Brents in already- apparently they arrived about ten days ago 

This is what I momentarily thought was the AMGP (bird front right). A greyish looking adult with long primary projection (five primaries showing here). Was just a washed out Golden Plover with displaced tertials- bastard! Called it to the crowd before I pulled back- lots of well deserved nodding heads and shameful looks from the surrounding twitchers received. 

Beddington Farmlands, Spoonbill dip

Got a call from Roger that 2 Spoonbills were flying past my window but despite reacting swiftly I couldn't get onto them. At 10am I meet Lysanne and Steve (local neighbourhood champions) to have a look at the restoration ahead of the Council meeting on Tuesday 8th October where the council will decide whether or not to take legal action on Viridor for the ecological problems at the Farmlands. We had a look at the recent planting on the permissive footpath and viewed the restoration from the hides.

There's a few problems on the footpath but overall it's coming together and things should improve considerably when the new warden starts and we get the local volunteer group back together. 

There has been a lot of damage caused by Viridor's delays, including the near loss of the Tree Sparrows and out of nine target species only two are doing well. However if they keep up the pace and catch up with the restoration and a solution is found for 100 acre and South East Corner things can only get better and better. 

The worry is that once Viridor get past the hurdle of Tuesday where they face the possibility of legal action for the delays, things will go back to how they were before (if legal action is not taken), more delays will follow, they will submit new planning permissions for more amendments to their commitments and SINC de-designation will follow and things will start to decline again. The planning officer has already reported ahead of Tuesday that if all the restoration planning conditions are not met by 2023 (when the reserve should be complete and open) then this is when the council will consider taking legal action and not before. Will see what the councillors decide on Tuesday.  

Saw a few good birds including Common Sandpiper, a stunning juvenile Kestrel, had House Martins migrating over and a good numbers of wildfowl including a couple of Pochard and 8 Snipe. 

A few decent moths last night despite the wet weather.

Juvenile Kestrel 

 First-winter Common Sandpiper (quite unusual to see in October) 

 Dewick's Plusia- been a pretty good year for these at the farmlands with another one last night

 Two Blair Shoulder Knots- a new for year

 L-album Wainscot 

 Mallow- had singles on last two nights, a new for year 

 View looking over North Lake 

View looking over proposed wet grassland 

Beddington Farmlands, Vestal and House Martins

Fresh south west winds and heavy rain showers has made it pretty tough going for migration this weekend. However some birds are still pushing through with over 700 House Martins moving through the farmlands yesterday and another migrant ball of 150 moving high over this morning. There's a Wheatear today too and a few Meadow Pipits are bouncing agaisnt the flow. The 2 Pintail and Wigeon are still around and duck numbers are building up well. 

Moth numbers have dropped off considerably but there's been a couple of migrants including a Vestal and the odd Diamond-back Moth. L-album Wainscot may also have been a migrant. Lunar Underwings, Large Yellow Underwings and Box-tree Moths are dominating the scene at the moment.  

 Vestal 

House Martins on the move