Bagley Crossbills

I like to keep fit by running around interesting birding locations with my bins: I run and then if I hear or see anything interesting I stop for a look. I probably don't see everything that I would if I were to walk slowly and take it all in but on the other hand I get to cover a lot of ground quickly. I usually run around Port Meadow, that being my local patch but I like to add a bit of variety every now and then so I thought that I would take a run around Bagley Wood to see if I could locate any crossbills and to get some other woodland bird year ticks under my belt (not that I'm year listing of course!).

I arrived at around 11am, parked on the verge near the sawmill gate and headed off into the wood. I'd gone no more than a few yards when I heard the distincitve "jyp jyp" of a flock of crossbills flying overhead. I soon saw them and an quick rough count put the flock size at around forty birds. I headed further into the wood and at the main fork headed left where I soon heard some birds calling in the tree tops next to the path which turned out to be a flock of five siskins. Shortly after another ten siskins flew over. There was a goldcrest calling in the trees next to the path and after a little patience waiting it showed itself, a nice female bird. Down by the clearing there were no crossbills to be seen so I headed back to the main path and took the other fork over to the south east. A quick check of where I saw the woodcock in December proved fruitless and I made my way back, seeing a flock of coal tits working there way through the trees and hearing several more goldcrests and seeing a couple of muntjac deer. I decided to check out the clearing again but again had no luck so I was just starting to explore a new path when I heard several crossbills calling and saw them land in a tree top on the other side of the clearing. I decided to abandon my new path and went to have a closer look at what turned out to be a male and two females. By now time was marching on so I headed back to the car where I heard a calling nuthatch over by the sawmill.

Injured Gull Update
I just thought that I'd mention the injured gull that I rescued a while ago. Apparently it's still alive though its not feeding itself (it has to be tube fed) and it won't stand on its feet at all, they're not sure why. I'll ring up again in a few days time to see how things have developed

I forgot to post this photo of some Curlew which were alongside the entrance track at Snettisham on my recent trip to Norfolk so I thought that I'd include it in this entry.

This black-tailed godwit on Port Meadow was a county year tick

A few more ticks for the various lists

Oxon Year List 2010
090 crossbill 15/02/2010 Bagley Wood
091 nuthatch 15/02/2010 Bagley Wood
092 blk-tld godwit 16/02/2010 Port Meadow


National Year List 2010
106 crossbill 15/02/2010 Bagley Wood
107 nuthatch 15/02/2010 Bagley Wood