At Thrupp Lake today, two members of The Earth Trust were there with leaflets encouraging visitors to become involved by joining as a friend of Earth Trust, not to be confused with Friends of the Earth.

They do not own Thrupp Lake but they do help care for the area.

There was a group of three tufted ducks that frequently dived together. This is a male and female and there was  also a second male.

The black headed gull is an inland bird and not a ‘seagull’ and there were lots bobbing on the water and flying about and making a lot of noise. I had never heard Thrupp Lake quite so noisy, what with them screeching, and geese honking.

The Radley Lakes Trust is working with landowners to protect and enhance the area, and there are new noticeboards on the walk round by the Railway where there are shallower wetlands

There I saw a couple of lapwings.

GWR trains come by frequently, and there also seems to be a lot of chatter from along the track. I saw my first bumble bee of the year buzzing about over an area of ground but could not see any flowers nearby.

There was a wind blowing round Radley Lakes this afternoon. The forecast is that it will get worse over night and tomorrow morning (Storm Eunice). There were lots of birds.

Here is a Coot

and a Cormorant.

There were a lot of snowdrops clustered by the shore at the start of the clockwise walk round Thrupp Lake.

The fir trees that used to stand behind the house Sandals have been cut down.

The restored ash pit, on the other side of the Sustrans Cycle path, is now a mixture of wood, and marshy areas and some water. The walk round was muddy a lot of the way.

This is just one of the remaining watery areas near the railway track. A large flock of birds came over and behind them were a couple of Kites. There was also a hawk, possibly a Kestrel, hanging in the sky and plummeting down, beyond the railway. Various trains went by: two GWR expresses, a goods train and two slower passenger trains.

I cycled along the Sustrans Route 5  to Radley Lakes mid afternoon. In this view St David’s Meadow can be seen on the left with Thrupp Lake beyond.

There seemed to be a lot of birds about round Thrupp Lake.

They included ducks, coots, moorhen, gulls,

swans,

grebes,

cormorants, and others.

On some smaller areas of water, and on some shallow ponds and lakes, ice had not melted all day.

This view is across one of the lakes that was filled with ash from Didcot Power Station where trees have grown. There is a path all the way round and there is still wetland and shallow lakes or ponds at the far side near the railway and River Thames.

After the sun went down, at 4:20, there were trails of birds in the sky heading north.