Ring Ouzels !

12 Apr - A morning visit to Liddington, in promising conditions after overnight rain, gave me my best ever view of Ring Ouzels here......a thrush in the last hawthorn bush in the hedge looked like a female Blackbird initially, but the tail looked too long.....then it turned round and the white crescent on the breast revealed a first- winter male Ring Ouzel! I kept still and it dropped to the ground and began to feed, where amazingly it was joined by a second male (4-6), a full adult with a larger white crescent on the chest. I watched them feeding for about 20 minutes, then they flew up into the hawthorns, called and flew over my head and round the hill.....magical. I got the above record shots from about 70-80 yards distance. Also present, good numbers of singing Yellowhammers (3) and Corn Buntings. 2 Swallows flew over the A346 at Chiseldon. A quick look at pit 74 CWP produced 2 White Wagtails, a Swallow and 4 Sand Martins, singing Willow Warbler, fem Goldeneye, 10 Shoveler, 50 Teal and a pair of Pintail. 2 LRPs on pit 200.