Oundle Again.

Back down to earth and back out in the county again with a walk along the Nene near Oundle and including the now customary diversion to Barnwell CP. As well as holding out a slim hope that I might stumble across an Otter I also wanted to check out the floodwater. Unfortunately neither part of this plan came to fruition because the Otters stayed very firmly undercover and the flood waters had frozen solid. Ah well you can't win them all.

Ashton Mill.

It was a rather dull and grey morning in contrast to yesterday's sun but at least the wind had dropped considerably. A stop at Ashton Mill provided what was possibly the best bird of the day, a Cetti's Warbler singing as usual from deep within cover close to the mill building. At the nearby lock a Little Egret was flushed, they're quite scarce around here and it made a change from the Grey Herons that I normally see. A Kingfisher showed well albeit distantly while a couple of swans looked as if they had been frozen in, I hope that there are no foxes about.

Mute Swans and a Kingfisher.

A little further along the river a large flock of geese were checked and as is usually the case nothing interesting was hidden amongst the Greylags. Raptors were fairly well represented with Red Kites and Buzzards showing well and there were a couple of Kestrels too. Teal are not that common along the river here so it was nice to stumble across a pair but aside from a Dabchick they were the only different water birds seen today.

A few of the usual suspects from Barnwell.

Oundle marina had the usual pair of Egyptian Geese swimming around the boats and another Kingfisher was seen. Nearby at the horse paddocks a Green Woodpecker was feeding on the ground, Great Spotteds had been drumming at several spots along my route. Moving on to Barnwell CP I found the normal sort of birds which included a Treecreeper. Several Bullfinches, a male and a couple of females, broke with their usual habits and were feeding on the ground. Few other things of note to report though a Redwing posed very nicely allowing me to take my best ever photos of this beautiful thrush.

A very obliging Redwing.