SP55 Long Day Count

 

Hello

I've been fortunate to have managed two more tours in the Camargue region of France this month

and I will be adding some pages/tabs to the blog depicting images of some of the wildlife

encountered.

Helen Franklin completed the annual Long Day Count in SP55 in the south west of the county

and her summary is as follows:-

'Saturday 3rd May was the day for the Banbury Ornithological Society’s Long Day Count in SP55.The day started dry and chilly with the sight of a Tawny Owl sitting in the middle of the road just

inside the border of the square - a very good start!! The Fawsely Estate looked superb as the

sun came up and counting began in earnest. And the day went well - against a par score of 65

and by half time the total was growing nicely. Highlights were a gorgeous male Grey Wagtail

on the ground not 10 yards away, its beautiful black throat in full view. But then a Pied Wagtail

was only seen at the very last minute before the 12 hours was up, it’s funny when common

birds can lead you such a dance. A field on the brow of a hill outside Hellidon contained no less

than 9 Buzzards and 2 Red Kite - there must have been some very tasty invertebrates in amongst

the vegetation. Sadly par was not achieved, possibly because some of the expected summer

migrants were nowhere to be found, seemingly still to arrive in the square, but it was nevertheless

a good day to be out and about in the square.'

Regards

Neil M

Mallard courtesy
of Jonathan Pitt.

Small Copper butterfly
courtesy of Jonathan Pitt.

Grey Wagtail courtesy
of Tony Stanford.